The University of Delaware Figure Skating team (UDFS) won a silver medal at the 2018 Intercollegiate Figure Skating competition, held Feb. 2-4, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The second place finish in February follows a gold medal win at the team’s first competition last fall at New York University.

It was a close battle with rival schools as Boston University University took home the gold medal with a score of 101, UD earned silver with 96 points and Dartmouth took bronze with 91.5 points.

Team President Chloe Roberts said she was nervous coming into this competition after two-month winter break, but she praised the team members for their strength, confidence and cohesion during the weekend.

“Coming in second to Boston University by only 5 points is not only a huge accomplishment but also shows that we are more than capable of achieving our goals at becoming national champions again this year”, Roberts shared.

The team endured a setback with an injury of Samantha Puhl, vice president, the week before the competition started. “With UDFS, we need to make sure that we have someone ready to step up and skate in case someone gets injured, even if they were not initially selected to skate in the first place,” Roberts said. “We had several skaters step up and take on that huge responsibility. Being thrown in is not ideal, but each skater was able to take it in stride and make the best of it. It is at times like that where I can really see how dedicated each team member is to helping this team success.”

Incoming first-year student Ashley Rooney was one of the skaters who stepped up to skate in the senior ladies championship event for Puhl. Rooney said she was excited and honored to be given the responsibility.

The intercollegiate figure skating season continues March 16-18 when UDFS will travel to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to compete in the last regional competition of the season. The team is determined to keep its focus toward the ultimate goal of capturing another national title.

UDFS winners for the 2018 MIT Intercollegiate Competition include:

• Alannah Binotto, fourth place, gold dance; second place, international dance;
• Brynn Dayton, first place, low team maneuvers; second place, preliminary;
• Hannah Gottfried, third place, high team maneuvers; second place, junior ladies short; third place, junior ladies championship;
• Emily Joseph, first place, high team maneuvers; first place, juvenile ladies group B;
• Becky Lisac, first place, low team maneuvers;
• Danielle Olney, second place, novice dance; fourth place, junior dance; second place, senior ladies long group A;
• Chloe Roberts, third place, pre-juvenile ladies;
• Ashley Rooney, sixth place, senior ladies championship;
• Melissa Rosales, third place, high team maneuvers; second place, senior ladies long group B;
• Julia Rowland, third place, high team maneuvers; third place, junior ladies long;
• Jacob Schedl, first place, low team maneuvers; first place, gold dance; first place, international dance;
• Brooke Tripp, first place, juvenile ladies long group A;
• Kameron Wong, first place, low team maneuvers; first place, senior dance; and
• Sumika Yamada, third place, high team maneuvers; first place, senior ladies short; third place, senior ladies championship; first place, preliminary dance; first place, juvenile dance.