The Carleton University figure skating club danced and free styled its way into a satisfying eighth place finish out of 11 teams Jan. 22 at the Winter Invitational in Toronto.
“This was probably the best showing that the figure skating team has had in its seven-year history,” said head coach Karen Laurin.
The team competed at the two-day invitational in 11 out of 14 events, capturing a total of 14 points overall which put them in eighth place.
The University of Waterloo grabbed the gold closely followed by the University of Guelph in second and the University of Western Ontario in third.
“Normally Carleton’s used to being that 10 out of 11 team,” Laurin said. “We’re moving up finally.”
Ravens Corey de Jong, Lindsay Bujaki, Laurel Harris and Jessica Dechamplain all finished top six in their events and team-veteran Nathan Last won Carleton a silver metal in the men’s skate.
“It went really well,” said fourth-year team member Jenna Porteous.
Porteous competed in both the bronze rhythm and the senior silver similar dance in which she came eighth and ninth.
“We all had really good skates and improved a lot from the fall skate,” she said.
In last semester’s Fall Invitational hosted by Queen’s University, the Ravens finished with 12 points. They were all very happy to improve that mark by two in this competition.
“We have a group of skaters that train really hard,” Laurin said, “and we went into this competition probably the best trained.”
Porteous agreed with Laurin and said that because of all the hard work they’ve put in at practice, some of the team members were able to finish within the top six.
In figure skating the only way to earn points for your team is to finish in the top six.
“We have a lot of new people on the team and after the first competition they knew what to expect,” Porteous said. “We all went back and worked a little harder this time.”
Unfortunately for the Ravens, they won’t have another chance to prove themselves this season. The team isn’t varsity and therefore will not be invited to compete at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships in February.
“It sucks,” Laurin said. “It’s one of the few sports where you have to be varsity to compete in the finals.”
Laurin said the team will continue to practice until March, focusing on training for next year and trying new things.
“Sometimes we felt like we weren’t taken seriously and excluded,” Porteous said. “But we’ve worked really hard and now we’re finally earning their respect.”
