IRVINE, Calif. - The Trine University Senior Synchronized Skating Team opened their competitive season at the Synchro Fall Classic in Irvine, California, which ran from Friday, November 7 to Saturday, November 8. The senior team has been hard at work, returning to campus early in August to prepare both their short program and free skate for this season.

In just their second season, the senior team has their sights set on improving their scores from last year's inaugural campaign. After practice sessions on Thursday and Friday morning, the team was prepared to debut their fierce and intense "Libertango" short program Friday night.

The Thunder kicked off the senior division by skating first. Despite a strong start to the program, nerves caused a fall during their synchronized spin element and errors on their angled intersection. Despite losing important technical points for the mistakes, Trine earned level four calls for their traveling element and synchronized spin and positive grades of execution on their no hold, traveling, and move elements. The team earned 47.74 points in the short program and ended the day in sixth place.

The team needed to quickly refocus for their Icarus inspired free skate on Saturday night. The program portrays the story of Icarus and flying too close to the sun, the team explores an emotional and soft style throughout their program.

"I love this year's free skate music and the emotion we get to portray in it," said sophomore Ella Lynch, "Going into competition, I was feeling very confident and excited to skate and show off our beautiful program."

The Thunder started their free skate with an unusual fall but showed potential by earning level four calls on their pairs, twizzle, group lift, and intersection elements. Despite errors during their no hold and pivoting block elements, Trine was able to earn positive grades of execution on six elements in their free skate. The team earned 95.30 points with their skate, good enough for a fifth place finished in the free skate segment.

"After California, I'm really looking forward to seeing how much we can improve as a team going into Boston. This past competition showcased our strengths, but also highlighted how we can improve going forward," said graduate student Reilly Johnson, "We have put in a lot of hard work, and it was exciting to see how that paid off, but it's also so motivating to see the potential for even more growth. As a team, I believe we are so capable, and I look forward to seeing how much we can grow and learn over the next two weeks."

The senior team will be back in action with their second qualifying competition at the Boston Classic. That event is set to start on Saturday, November 22 and wrap up on Sunday, November 23.