KALAMAZOO, Mich. – With their second-place finish at the Bronco Challenge Cup, The Trine University Figure Skating Team completed the regular season ranked second overall in the Midwest. This final conference competition, hosted by Western Michigan University, set the stage for a series of strong showings by Thunder skaters, ending with a total of 19 podium finishes.
 
The competition began with the Short Program events. Up first for the Thunder, Brigid Guerin took fifth place in the Juvenile Short Program and earned six team points. Next, Maris Kakasenko and Brinna Russell competed in the Intermediate Short Program. Kakasenko took fourth and Russell came in fifth, adding a combined 13 team points to Trine's tally. Next, Enya Lunburg competed in the Novice Short Program as an injury substitute and was able to take fifth out of ten competitors, earning six more points for Trine. Sage Scherzer had a great skate in the Pre-Preliminary Freeskate and took the silver medal, Trine's first medal of the day, earning ten team points for the team's total score.
 
Last up on Friday night was the Team Maneuvers event. With a few critical mistakes, Trine's Intermediate squad of Guerin, Kakasenko, Russell, and Kaitlin Gunter took fifth out of ten strong teams and earned six points for the team. In Low Team Maneuvers, Trine's representatives, Alex Davidson, Reilly Johnson, Hannah Guerra, and Kellan Chwojko-Frank, took second place and earned silver medals and a trophy for Trine. They contributed 11 points to Trine's numbers, bringing the Thunder's day one score to 52 points.
 
Saturday began with the Junior Women Short Program event where freshman, AnnaLee Barton took the silver medal and earned 12 team points for Trine. Next, the Thunder's Preliminary Freeskate competitors did extremely well, with Davidson taking the gold medal, Arya Barnes-Kelley winning the Bronze, and Mayte Velarde earning fifth in their respective groups. Together they earned a huge 25 team points and collected two more medals for Trine. In the Preliminary Pattern Dance, Lunburg took fifth place and earned four team points.
 
Next, Chwojko-Frank and Johnson each dominated their respective groups of the Juvenile Solo Free Dance and both earned the gold medal. They added 24 team points to Trine's score. In the Intermediate Solo Free Dance event, Gunter had a small mishap in her choreographic slide element, but with the strength of the remaining portions of her routine was still able to earn the bronze medal and eight team points. Guerra took first place in the Novice Solo Free Dance event with her strong program and was able to earn another gold medal and 12 points for Trine.
 
In the Thunder's last event of the day, the Intermediate Freeskate, Lunburg earned the gold medal for her near-perfect skate and Rhiley Paskoff earned the bronze medal with a solid performance. Together they earned 20 team points for the Thunder and brought Trine's team point total to 155 points.
 
Sunday's competition began with three Pattern Dance events for Trine. Johnson earned the silver medal in the Pre-Bronze Pattern Dance, Guerra won the gold medal in Bronze Pattern Dance, and Gunter won the gold medal in Pre-Silver pattern dance. With those medal winning performances, the skaters earned a combined 28 team points for Trine.
 
Next Chwojko- Frank, Jillian George, and Savannah Press competed in the Juvenile Freeskate event, each in separate groups. Chwojko-Frank earned the silver medal and ten team points, George took fifth place and five team points, and Press won the gold medal in her group and earned 12 team points. In the Gold Pattern Dance, Lainie Kuckkahn took first place and the gold medal while Caroline Orr took sixth place after a stumble at the end of her dance. Together, Kuckkahn and Orr earned 19 team points. Kuckkahn also earned first place in the International Pattern Dance event - the highest level of pattern dance at the event, winning an additional gold medal for Trine plus 10 team points - eight for her first place finish and two extra points for the difficulty level of the event.
 
In the Junior Free Skate, Barton struggled with a few jumps and ended up in fifth place, earning four team points. In the Novice Freeskate, Kakasenko took the bronze medal while Russell, as an injury substitute, took sixth. Together Russell and Kakasenko earned eight team points to top off Trine's final score for the event and solidify the Thunder's second place finish.
 
Trine University finished the competition with a total score of 251 team points. After taking second place, the team officially qualified for the National Intercollegiate Final to be held this weekend, April 11-13th nearby at the Compton Family Ice Arena in Notre Dame, IN. Contact Head Coach, Rachel Franchock (franchockr@trine.edu) with questions about attending the National Intercollegiate Final. The event is free to spectators and the team would love to see some familiar faces cheering them on this weekend!
 

Final Results
1.	Adrian College	269.5
2.	Trine University	251.0
3.	University of Michigan	245.0
4.	Western Michigan University	220.5
5.	Michigan State University	186.5
6.	Texas A&M University	172.0
7.	University of Illinois	158.0
8.	University of Minnesota - Twin Cities	143.0
9.	University of Wisconsin	106.0
10.	Northwestern University	104.0
11.	Oakland University	103.0
12.	Wayne State University	71.0
13.	University of Notre Dame	59.0
14.	University of Minnesota - Duluth	50.0
15.	University of Nebraska	37.0
16.	Northern Michigan University	35.5
17.	Lake Forest College	27.0
18.	University of Iowa	21.0
t-19.	Augustana University	17.0
t-19.	Ferris State University	17.0