BY Maria Cipriano
Staff Reporter
On the weekend of Feb. 8 and 9, the club figure skating team at Sacred Heart University qualified for the national championship in March after finishing third in the Northeast section and fourth overall, with 98 points. Their competition was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass.
“Every competition is a different dynamic and the thing that impressed me at MIT was that a lot of people on the team really rallied,” said head coach Lisa Fedick. “People that don’t usually win medals, rising to the occasion, I mean that’s what a team is about, just everyone doing their part.”
On Feb. 8, the team maneuvers were held and consisted of the low, medium, and the high team events. The team finished 7th in the low event, 3rd in the medium, and 7th for the long event. Each event included six to seven skaters.
“Each skater contributes by coming to the rink and dedicating their time and their passion to our team and figure skating,” said senior Juliet Melotto. “When we get to the competition, yes it’s individual performance. But at the end of the day, our whole goal is to do well for our team.”
Senior Tessa Peredy, vice president of the figure skating team, placed second in the short program competition.
“It was really exciting. I had actually switched to an older program that I had done a couple years ago. I was happy I could do that for my team,” said Peredy.
Melotto finished with a gold medal (1st place) on Saturday in the Westminster Waltz, and a bronze medal in the Rhumba.
“Personally, I placed first in my gold dance and third in my international dance,” said Melotto. “I think that from each competition I try to take what I didn’t do as well on and try to improve on that for the next competition.”
During the competition, some of the skaters were sick or injured which caused other skaters on the team to step up and compete in their place.
“I think that we can improve on expression when we skate and enough rest before competition, because a lot of girls are getting sick right now,” Melotto said.
Freshman Natalie Castelli was one of the skaters that stepped up during the competition for her team and skated in the Novice Long program on Sunday.
“I competed in two competitions prior to this past one, but I was injured for the last two,” said Castelli. “This was the first competition where I actually could do everything. I was excited to do that.”
Other skaters that contributed to the team’s win were Alanna Kubick placing 4th, Victoria Huggan placing 7th, and Castelli placing 8th in the Novice Ladies short program, which was held on Saturday.
“I want everyone to just get healthy. We’re going to do a lot of team bonding events,” said Fedick. “We do program practices and simulate the competition environment. We are going to do some more off-ice things to keep the team morale high.”
The figure skating team has one month until the Intercollegiate Nationals Championship. This competition will be held in Minneapolis, Minn. in March.