Collegiate Skating

[ice coverage]

Yes, MIT graduate Kevin Shum (competing in Championship Junior Men FS in Lake Placid) shared an Insta story of his University of Washington's team names on the Olympic Center wall - he's a Masters student in the Human Centered Design & Engineering department at UW. ...

Thanks for posting about Kevin's Instastory, which I missed.
Not that it matters, but I guess that different schools are getting slightly different decorations. University of Denver's Ian Kang showed his individual poster on the wall that had his photo as well as his name (although without the jersey motif).
In any case, it is nice to catch glimpses here and there of bells and whistles enhancing the experience for the skaters -- such as the passing of the torch, lighting of the cauldron, other types of impressive signage. (A joint effort by USFS and LP Olympic Center, I would guess? Maybe 25 years deserved higher production values than usual?)
Also a clever touch that the alma mater of each official is listed on the results sheets instead of hometown.

 

[YukiNieve]

Thank you soooooo much for taping David's performance!! And finding it to post here!!

What a beautiful performance. You are truly one of a kind, David!!
?

 

[Sylvia]

At the Skating Club of Boston in early February: ...

New England Intercollegiate Cup
125 - Senior Solo Free Dance Grp A - top 2 (6.0 majority ordinal system is used in these competitions):

Place	Name	1	2	3	4	5	Maj.	Tie Br.
1.	Sasha Fear, Dartmouth College	1	1	2	2	1	3/1
2.	Karen Chen, Cornell University	3	2	1	1	2	4/2

Karen reversed the result last night in Lake Placid: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/lea...ts/2024/33763/11 senior solo free dancec1.htm
Top 4:
1. Karen Chen, Cornell University 1 1 2 1 3 3/1
2. Sasha Fear, Dartmouth College 2 2 1 6 1 4/2
3. Madelyn Jordan, Univ. of Delaware 3 3 4 5 2 3/3
4. Brynn Roberts, University of Denver 7 4 5 2 4 3/4

From Insta story clips I saw, Karen skated to Billie Eilish’s "Bad Guy" & Sasha to Rach 2 so quite a music contrast!?

 

[Sylvia]

Univ. of Delaware FS’ Instagram account has posted David Shapiro’s 1st place Pre-Bronze Solo Pattern Swing Dance (received 4 first place ordinals & 1 7th): https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5ts47Qx66Z/

Results: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/nonqual_results/2024/33763/index.html

 

[Sylvia]

Championship Senior Men FS results from yesterday:
Place Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Maj. Tie Br.
1. Goku Endo, UCLA 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 6/1 - ETA link to videa 1-minute video excerpt (Romeo & Juliet that he skated at 2024 Nationals): https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5wlvXFru7A/
2. Lucas Altieri, Boston University 3 1 2 2 4 3 2 4/2
3. Nicholas Hsieh, Cornell University 2 4 3 4 3 2 4 4/3 TOM 10
4. Philip Baker, Boston University 4 3 4 3 2 4 3 4/3 TOM 11

Championship Senior Women FS top 2 (of 7):
1. Erica Machida, UCLA 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 6/1
2. Audrey Lu, UCLA 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 7/2
UCLA FS shared a video excerpt of Machida's 1st place Senior Women SP (1st place ordinals from all 5 judges on Friday): https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5r_P8uOM56/
ETA link to watch 1 minute of Machida’s winning FS: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5wiluFLzNA/
Also a 1-minute clip from Audrey Lu’s FS to Eilish's "No Time To Die": https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5wkk_VLAhk/

Championship Junior Men FS top 2 (of 6):
1. Bryan Lehmann, Univ. of Delaware 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 6/1 - video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5uLFgVryEl/
2. Kevin Shum, Univ. of Washington 2 3 2 4 2 3 2 4/2

Olivia Tennant (‘23) won Championship Junior Women FS (7 competed): https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5uCo8BLRax/

 

[Sylvia]

I've since edited in a few more video links in my post above.

Congrats to the University of Delaware figure skating team, led by Colin McManus & Leah Krauskopf, on winning the National Intercollegiate Final team title yesterday! Their photos (and 1 clip) from the awards ceremony: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ws22Tr8TR/
Colin also proudly shared 2 photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5wrrkdLeRo/

Team Points final standings & details: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/nonqual_results/2024/33763/24 nic finalx.htm

Place Team Team's Points
GOLD Univ. of Delaware 303.0
SILVER Boston University 273.0
BRONZE Dartmouth College 226.0
PEWTER New York University 196.0
5. Adrian College 188.0
6. Cornell University 180.0
7.(Tie) University of Denver 157.0
7.(Tie) Trine University 157.0
9. Univ. of Pennsylvania 133.0
10. Univ. of Washington 129.0
11. UCLA 124.0
12. UC Berkeley 122.0
13. Western Michigan Univ. 120.0
14. Michigan State Univ. 115.0
15. Liberty University 112.0
16. Univ. of South Florida 111.0

 

[marshallpond]

The Junior Solo Free Dance event was won by David Shapiro (4/1 - 4 1st place ordinals & 1 3rd place ordinal in the 6.0 results); 2nd-5th were Nicholas Hsieh 4/2, Lucas Altieri 3/4 (TOM 8), Kevin Shum 3/4 (TOM 10), Dartmouth's Nathaniel Chen 3/4 (TOM 8): https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/nonqual_results/2024/33763/06 junior solo free dancec1.htm
Thanks to UDel FS for sharing his video - "This Bitter Earth" by Dinah Washington/"On the Nature of Daylight" by Max Richter: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5rNoRIR41q/

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I just find it very interesting that these boys were all single skaters before. Nick Hseih was on Team USA and a JGP Junior Men competitor before. As a junior men's competitor, Lucas Altieri won the Golden Spin of Zagreb. While focusing on college, they are discovering new avenues to continue skating. Love collegiate skating!

And I have to say it again: I've always loved, loved, loved David Shapiro. Been his fan since he was part of Viktor Pfeiffer's boy's squad.

 

[Sylvia]

While focusing on college, they are discovering new avenues to continue skating. Love collegiate skating!

For fans of Pooja Kalyan (like me!), today she shared her performance from the Brown University figure skating club's show this past November and demonstrates her still wonderful skating skills & expressiveness: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5x6dIyrWsq/

 

[kwanfan1818]

I'm thrilled for Colin McManus. I really loved his skating with Anastasia Cannuscio.

 

[ice coverage]

USFS recap of NIF competition:

University of Delaware Ties National Intercollegiate Final Record with Seventh Title | U.S. Figure Skating

www.usfigureskating.org

At the Skating Club of Boston in early February: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/nonqual_results/2024/33831/index.html

New England Intercollegiate Cup
125 - Senior Solo Free Dance Grp A - top 2 (6.0 majority ordinal system is used in these competitions):

Place	Name	1	2	3	4	5	Maj.	Tie Br.
1.	Sasha Fear, Dartmouth College	1	1	2	2	1	3/1
2.	Karen Chen, Cornell University	3	2	1	1	2	4/2

Karen reversed the result last night in Lake Placid: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/nonqual_results/2024/33763/11 senior solo free dancec1.htm
Top 4:
1. Karen Chen, Cornell University 1 1 2 1 3 3/1
2. Sasha Fear, Dartmouth College 2 2 1 6 1 4/2
3. Madelyn Jordan, Univ. of Delaware 3 3 4 5 2 3/3
4. Brynn Roberts, University of Denver 7 4 5 2 4 3/4

From Insta story clips I saw, Karen skated to Billie Eilish’s "Bad Guy" & Sasha to Rach 2 so quite a music contrast!?

Just wanna add that before NIF, Sasha Fear won Senior Solo FD over Karen Chen twice this season, most recently in March in Utica. Hope that they both feel that they had a good season and that everyone had a great time in Lake Placid.

ETA:​

One of Audrey Lu's many photos is with Paul Wylie (which also shows the wall of mini-jersey decorations personalized for Team UCLA's individual members).​

Audrey Lu on Instagram: "2024 National Intercollegiate Final 💙💛 What an amazing weekend filled with unforgettable memories, never ending laughter, and a clean skate 🥹🏅🏅Super grateful to be able to continue doing what I love with the most supportive a

728 likes, 57 comments - audreylu22 on April 15, 2024: "2024 National Intercollegiate Final 💙💛 What an amazing weekend filled with unforgettable memories, never ending laughter, and a clean skate 🥹🏅🏅Super grateful to be able to continue doing what I love with the most supportive and genuine team...

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

And I have to say it again: I've always loved, loved, loved David Shapiro. Been his fan since he was part of Viktor Pfeiffer's boy's squad.

Viktor Pfeifer's original "boys squad" in Wilmington, DE included: Joseph Kang and Peter Liu in Senior and Nick Hsieh in Junior at 2021 U.S. Nationals, plus David Shapiro (10th in Junior at 2020 Nationals) and Tony Lu (2019 Senior National competitor)... fun trivia - Pfeifer also worked a bit with Ilia Malinin when he (Pfeifer) was based in Wilmington.

For fans of Pooja Kalyan (like me!), today she shared her performance from the Brown University figure skating club's show this past November and demonstrates her still wonderful skating skills & expressiveness:

New link shared by Pooja today (first one got deleted): https://www.instagram.com/reel/C51SJjBx7xZ/

 

[Sylvia]

I saw that a Vermont local news station aired a story with interviews from Lake Placid - 2-minute video: https://www.wcax.com/video/2024/04/...-annual-intercollegiate-figure-skating-final/
Article/transcript:

Lake Placid Olympic Center hosts 25th Annual Intercollegiate Figure Skating Final

Collegiate figure skaters from all around the country are competing in 43 events at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid for the 25th Annual Intercollegiate Figure Skating Final.

www.wcax.com

Just wanna add that before NIF, Sasha Fear won Senior Solo FD over Karen Chen twice this season, most recently in March in Utica.

Thank you for fact checking/confirming - I had missed seeing that Sasha Fear had won 3/1 (all 1st place ordinals over Karen's 3 2nds) at the North East Intercollegiate Classic competition on March 10: https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/lea...787/38 senior solo free dance - group bc1.htm

ETA:​

One of Audrey Lu's many photos is with Paul Wylie (which also shows the wall of mini-jersey decorations personalized for Team UCLA's individual members).​

Audrey Lu on Instagram: "2024 National Intercollegiate Final 💙💛 What an amazing weekend filled with unforgettable memories, never ending laughter, and a clean skate 🥹🏅🏅Super grateful to be able to continue doing what I love with the most supportive a

728 likes, 57 comments - audreylu22 on April 15, 2024: "2024 National Intercollegiate Final 💙💛 What an amazing weekend filled with unforgettable memories, never ending laughter, and a clean skate 🥹🏅🏅Super grateful to be able to continue doing what I love with the most supportive and genuine team...

www.instagram.com

And Karen Chen shared her photo highlights from Lake Placid (includes a text from her bro (10th pic): https://www.instagram.com/p/C50vRacr4qj/

For anyone near Ithaca, NY, the Cornell FS club is holding their Spring show on Sunday, April 21 at 2:45 pm: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3_GnqqxO49/

 

[marshallpond]

Pfeifer also worked a bit with Ilia Malinin when he (Pfeifer) was based in Wilmington.

Even during the pandemic, Ilia went to Viktor to train every weekend. They'd drive from Reston to Wilmington on Saturdays.

Luke Wang around the time shortly before the pandemic trained with Viktor in Wilmington, driving from his place in MD. He was the one who convinced Luke to try pairs.

Viktor is one of the nicest coaches in skating. Had a long chat with him at the Mid-Atlantic NQS last year about why he moved back from Colorado to Aston PA, and he said that the thing he wants to do the most is to develop and nurture young skaters, which he can't really do much in Broadmoor. So now at Iceworks, he has a burgeoning stable of kids again (with a good number of boys) with Caleb, Coco, Beck, etc.

 

[Sylvia]

The University of Maryland's collegiate figure skating team is preparing for the new season (Oct. 24, 2024):

Terps Take the Ice

Maryland Figure Skating Brings Top Athletes, Newbies Together

today.umd.edu

Excerpt:

UMD has long had a skating tradition, but the group became defunct during the pandemic, so when Yuan and current Co-president Ayeesha Fadlaoui ’25 arrived as freshmen, they helped revive it. While many competitive skaters hang up their blades after high school, they saw an opportunity to turn a sometimes-stressful sport into a fun, accessible activity.
“Collegiate skating is more laid back,” said Fadlaoui, an animal sciences major. “It’s much more social, people are cheering and it’s just a much different environment.”
The club encompasses both freestyle skating, focused on individual programs, and synchronized skating, where students compete group routines like last year’s “Mean Girls”-inspired program, and now has about two dozen regular members. It draws a mix of beginners and nationally—even internationally—known skaters, such as Team USA ice dancer Jenna Hauer ’28.

Re-posting from the U.S. Ice Dance news thread:

Very that Jenna Hauer is featured as one of the University of Maryland’s “Fresh Faces for Fall 2024” :

Fresh Faces for Fall 2024 | Maryland Today

From Artists to Activists to Athletes, Meet 10 Standout First-Year Terps

today.umd.edu

 

[ice coverage]

Max Aaron is the new Team Coach for University of Denver Figure Skating, per team announcement on Jan 22.

University of Denver Figure Skating on Instagram: "DUFSC is very excited to announce that we have brought on Max Aaron as our new team coach! ⛸️ As a former Team USA athlete, Max is the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating National champion and a four-time Natio

dufigureskating on January 22, 2025: "DUFSC is very excited to announce that we have brought on Max Aaron as our new team coach! ⛸️ As a former Team USA athlete, Max is the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating National champion and a four-time National medalist, the 2015 Skate America Grand Prix champion...

www.instagram.com

Max has gold and silver medals from U.S. Collegiate Championships , in addition to his more well-known accomplishments.