SUGARLAND, Texas – The Trine University's Figure Skating Team showed their perseverance two weekends ago, fighting back from a tough first day to earn second place overall at the Aggieland Classic, hosted by Texas A&M University. The competition held February 21-23, set the stage for many incredible performances by the Thunder skaters, culminating in 19 podium finishes.
 
The weekend began Friday with short programs. Our first skater of the event was Brigid Guerin performing her Juvenile Short program. Guerin earned fourth place and six team points with a clean double flip but a fall on her double loop combo. Next, Maris Kakasenko earned the Bronze medal in the intermediate short program and Brinna Russell took fifth, adding a combined 12 points to the teams total. Enya Lunburg took the ice next as an injury substitution in the Novice Short Program event. Lunburg completed the program and earned the Thunder an additional team point.
 
Finally, Annalee Barton and Aaliyah Devins took the ice for the Junior Short Program. Devins took an unfortunate fall during a spiral in her program but was still able to execute strong jumps and spins and earned the team five points while placing eighth. Barton landed a strong double-double combo but had a fall on her difficult double axel element and earned sixth place and seven points for the Thunder. Trine finished the day on Friday with 31 team points and found themselves outside of the top five, a rare occurrence for the program these past few seasons.
 
The Thunder began Saturday determined to make up a lot of ground with confident performances. Up first were Trine's Juvenile Freeskate competitors. Freshmen, Caroline Orr and Savannah Press each had excellent performances and took the silver medal in their respective groups. Kellan Chwojko-Frank executed a flawless routine and earned the first gold of the event for Trine. Together Orr, Press, and Chwojko-Frank earned 32 points for the Thunder, doubling the team's score. Next up, Lunburg and Rhiley Paskoff took on the Intermediate Freeskate. Paskoff earned the silver medal in her group and earned the Thunder 10 team points. Lunburg took a clear victory in Group B winning Trine's second gold medal of the event and 12 team points.
 
In the Novice Freeskate, Kakasenko earned fourth place while Russell, skating as an injury substitute in this event, earned ninth place. Together they added nine points to Trine's tally. Next, Barton skated her junior freeskate confidently in a competitive field and took fourth place, gaining six team points.
 
The last events on Saturday for the Thunder were Low and Intermediate Team Maneuvers. The expert team of Chwojko-Frank, Alex Davidson, and Reilly Johnson skated each of their six elements to perfection, earning them first place in a field of 17 teams in the Low Team Maneuvers event. This marks the fifth consecutive conference competition win for this group. In Intermediate Team maneuvers, the team of Kakasenko, Guerin, Russell, and Kaitlin Gunter hit each element with determination and confidence. The judges awarded them first place for their performance, keeping this squad undefeated so far this season. Low and Intermediate Team added 24 team points to the pot and collected trophies for their efforts. The Thunder finished day two in third place behind Adrian College and the University of Michigan.
 
The last day of competition for Trine began with Lunburg giving a spectacular performance of the Rhythm Blues in the Preliminary Pattern Dance. She was awarded first place ordinals by all three judges and earned 12 points for the Thunder. Next, Johnson earned 10 additional team points from her second place finish in the Pre-Bronze Pattern Dance, the Swing Dance. Chwojko-Frank earned another gold medal and 12 points for Trine with her strong rendition of the Willow Waltz in the Bronze Pattern Dance event.
 
Gunter earned first place ordinals from all five judges for her masterful Foxtrot, winning the gold medal and 12 more team points in the Pre-Silver Pattern Dance. Davidson took third place in her group of the Gold Pattern Dance, while Orr was able to earn first place in Group B of the same dance. Together, Davidson and Orr earned 20 team points with their strong Quicksteps. In the International Pattern Dance, Davidson took fifth place and earned five team points plus an extra two for the difficulty of the event.
 
Next up were the Juvenile Solo Free Dances. Johnson slipped at the end of her twizzle element, which affected her score quite a bit, placing sixth in Group A and earning three points for the team. Chwojko-Frank also tripped at the very beginning of her program but was able to recover and perform all of her elements with control and power. She was awarded first place for her performance and earned 12 points for the Thunder. Gunter was up next in the Intermediate Free Dance. With her new routine to the music of Michael Jackson, Gunter soared to a second place finish and earned 10 team points for the Thunder. In the Pre-Preliminary Free Skate, Sage Scherzer gracefully skated to earn a silver medal and 10 points for Trine.
 
The last events of the day were three groups of the Preliminary Free Skate, a competitive event with many entries. In Group A, Davidson wowed the judges with big jumps and top notch artistry, earning a first place finish and 12 team points. Mayte Velarde had a wonderful skate in Group B, earning the bronze medal and eight points for the Thunder. Lastly, Elizabeth Cantrell gave a strong performance, just stepping out of her final combination spin a little early. Cantrell placed sixth out of 10 and earned five team points to cap off a great end to the competition for Trine.
 
With a total score of 257 points, Trine moved ahead of the University of Michigan and ended the event solidly in second place, just behind Adrian College. Trine's medal count at the event totalled three bronze, six silver, and 10 gold medal finishes. The Thunder maintain their second place ranking in the Midwest as they head to the third and final conference competition of the season, the Bronco Classic, hosted by Western Michigan University (March 7-9th). There, they hope to solidify their qualification for the National Championships hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana on April 11-13th.