Headed to Lake Placid: Figure skating gears up for USFS National Intercollegiate Final in New York

After another solid regular season from the Liberty University figure skating team, Head Coach Courtney Kirschke and her group are gearing up for the U.S. Figure Skating National Intercollegiate Final in Lake Placid, New York. The team placed second out of 22 teams in the final sectional event of the season March 1-3 at the Carolina Capital Classic at NC State, finishing the year ranked second in the combined sectional standings to punch a ticket to USFS nationals.   

In just her first year as head coach of the group, Kirschke is impressed by the way her team has managed to gel this season.

“Coming off last season, we did have a big turnover with seniors,” Kirschke said. “We had about eight or nine seniors leaving, and we had probably had five or six freshmen come in. We didn’t quite fill the numbers that we had, but we had a good amount of people coming in to fill all that. It was just a different dynamic. … I feel like from the very first month after tryouts and going into our first competition to where we are now, it is a little bit more cohesive.” 

A good portion of that cohesiveness can be attributed to the team’s upperclassmen. Senior Rebekah McBrayer is one of the team’s leaders, hoping to not only bring a dynamic performance to nationals, but one that tells her story.   

“This is my senior year, so it’s been super fun to have four full years with the team and see how we’ve grown. This year I chose a song for one of my programs,” McBrayer said. “It’s ‘Ashes’ by Celine Dion, and it talks about how you can grow from the ashes and beauty from the ashes. So, I picked that for myself because I wanted to end the college career coming from the ashes and doing my best work I can out on (the) ice and something that was meaningful to me.”

While the team performed well as a unit at its last competition, there were several solid individual showings as well. Sophomore Emma Zajonc finished first out of 12 skaters in the Preliminary Solo Pattern Dance Group, with junior Emma Richards taking home first as well in both the Pre-Bronze Solo Pattern Dance Group and the Intermediate Short Program.

Junior Rachel Berger came in second in the Juvenile Solo Free Dance event, and senior Kamden Carrera also finished second in Preliminary Solo Pattern Dance Group B.

 “Going in, it’s hard to have expectations,” Kirschke said. “I would like to expect the girls to do what they’re doing in practice. … You’ve got to show up and have that consistency, and it’s like, if you’re not doing it in practice, you’re not going to do it in competition. As long as they do what they’ve been practicing, that’s all you can do, and then that’s the goal.”

Ultimately, each team member is hoping to ramp up the difficulty in her programs so they’re at their best come nationals. After three solid conference competitions, the group is feeling more excited than ever to give its best on the ice. At the end of the day, however, there’s no extra pressure added to the team heading into the big weekend.

  “I think the only expectations we should have as a team are for our personal best, but also to glorify Christ in what we’re doing,” sophomore Anna Holloway said. “When you go to nationals, it’s completely different people, completely different skill levels. Your level that you’ve been skating in all seasons could look completely different at nationals, and so the biggest thing that we know that we can excel in is glorifying Christ.”

Johnson is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion