Team finishes 4th at tournament

At Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., this past weekend, the IU figure skating team entered the National Collegiate Figure Skating competition with one goal in mind: to place better than its fourth-place finish last year.\nWhile the team didn’t improve upon last year’s finish, they matched their placing with another fourth place finish. \nHopes and enthusiasm ran high during the first half of the competition. \nBeth Dorr, sophomore and president of the club, said the team started off in first place for at least half of Saturday, the first day of competition. But “slowly but surely,” she said, the team kept dropping down to second, and then third.\n“It was exciting because it came down to the last event,” Dorr said. “And unfortunately we lost it.”\nWhile the placing is the same in comparison to last year, Dorr said the team increased in point total by about 10-15. \nDartmouth, the host school, won again, as it has for the past three years.\nDorr said the team was very organized and she said it almost felt like the team was “in another league.” There were different events compared to past tournaments and in terms of organization as well.\nAs the team looks to the next season for competition, Dorr said the team is beginning to learn strategies and techniques of what to put into for each event at competitions like Nationals. \n“There was one event that had 20 competitors and some only had five,” Dorr said. “So it makes us wonder if it is the best thing to have three or four competitors for a 20 event.”\nAs for next year, the IU figuring skating hopes to keep going.\n“For the most part, we are looking forward to our team growing and improving overall,” Dorr said.