In just its mere second year as a University of Wisconsin club team, the UW Skating Club placed sixth at the United States Intercollegiate Championships last weekend.
Juliana Hermann, a UW freshman, said the team set a goal to just “beat someone” in their first trip to the national competition.
“It was an amazing feeling just to go and being able to place sixth,” Hermann said. “To beat three schools who’ve been doing this for years was just icing on the cake.”
Held April 17-18 at the University of Delaware, the competition included nine teams from around the country; three each from the East, Midwest and West.
Fourteen skaters make up the UW individual team, but because of a rule stating skaters must participate in at least two of the three qualifying events, only nine competed at nationals.
Facing stiff competition, especially from the Eastern schools, Hermann said the team came into the final two events in eighth place.
Strong finishes from sophomore Isabelle Faust and junior Kira Ault pushed the team to their sixth place finish.
Faust said she took first in the second highest level of the Ice Dance event — which she described as “ballroom dancing” on ice — and Ault took second.
As the final skater in the final event of the competition, Faust said the competition tired her out and she didn’t think she would take first.
“I was afraid my legs weren’t going to support me anymore,” Faust said. “It was a great feeling [to win], but very unexpected.”
After starting with just four members in its first year, Faust said the team felt honored to skate with more established teams like Boston University and Dartmouth.
Boston University finished first, followed by Dartmouth in second and Delaware in third.
Despite finishing sixth, Hermann said the team celebrated like they had won the competition.
“In the rink they had this banner that said, ‘Welcome to the University of Delaware — Home of the National Conference. The best nine teams in the entire country,'” Hermann said. “We all took a picture under that banner because we were so proud that we were one of those nine teams.”
