By Frank Pingue
Ryerson’s blades were not as sharp as they hoped this past weekend at the Queen’s University Invitational.
The Rams will have to work hard to achieve their goal for a top-five finish in the varsity skating circuit after finishing eighth out of 10 teams at Queen’s.
“This weekend was an eye opening experience for us,” said figure skating head coach Jennifer Chapman. “It was a really strong field of skaters, but the girls did well considering the events they skated in were not their strongest.”
Renae Redford earned one point for the Rams by finishing sixth out of 10 skaters in the senior solo dance. It was Redford’s first outing as a Ram.
Bridget Wight and Kristin Koopman took home Ryerson’s second and final point of the weekend. The pair finished sixth out of 10 dancers in the intermediare similar dance.
“They had a solid dance,” said Chapman. “They had to do one of their tougher dances but they still managed to get us a point with a clean skate.”
Kristi Kroeplin and Michelle Osborne finished eighth out of 10 skaters in the senior similar dance.
“They did well considering it was their first time skating together,” said Chapman. “They had to compete against a strong field of skaters but overall they were solid.”
In the open solo dance, Marybeth Moellenkamp finished a disappointing 10th place. Moellenkamp skated well and showed a lot of good expression but she had to skate against some strong competition.
“It was disappointing to see her finish where she did but we were able to take home a lot of good from it,” said Chapman. “Now we know what areas to work on.”
Jennifer Schlee placed seventh out of 10 skaters in intermediate singles despite recovering from back problems. She was one of the only skaters to have a clean skate in this category.
The host school, Queen’s, won the even with 63 points. The University of Guelph was a close second with 62 points and York University finished a surprising third with 48 points.
This was Ryerson’s first and only tournament for the semester. The Rams are planning a one-week training camp in January to prepare for the University of Guelph invitational on Jan. 23.
“Now we have to take what we learned this weekend and use it to prepare for Guelph,” said a confident Chapman. “It’s still possible to meet our goal of finishing fifth but we still have a lot of work to do.”
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