The Synchronized Skating Team won the gold medal Saturday at the Midwestern Synchronized Skating Championships in Plymouth, Michigan. The first place finish is the second year in a row that Notre Dame has won its most important competition of the year, placing at the top of eight other collegiate teams from the Midwest. Miami of Ohio, previously undefeated this season, and Ohio University earned the 2nd and 3rd place medals for the division.
The Irish skaters, performing to a medley of popular Billy Joel songs, entertained the audience with their presentation and program elements.
The squad received a standing ovation from fans at the end of the program after the skaters successfully completed a difficult intersection.
The skating team has two weeks until the final competition of the season, the Tri-State Synchronized Skating Championships.
Women's Ice Hockey
The Women's Ice Hockey Club defeated the University of Chicago Maroons Saturday afternoon 13-2 at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
Irish freshman Kelsey Osinski scored an early goal to give the Irish some momentum. Sophomore MaddieSchneeman had an excellent period at center, contributing a goal and two assists in the first period alone.
Suzanne Fitzpatrick played inspired with two goals in the first period. It was evident that she thrived off the support of the home crowd.
At the end of the first period, with the Irish leading 7-1, coaches junior Derek Wolf, sophomore EJ Borg and senior Tim Gannatti decided to mix up the lines and stressed fundamentals going into the latter two periods.
Sophomore Kayla Maple notched the first hat trick of her career and freshman Tori White showed her great defensive ability. Freshman Mary Salvi saw limited action in goal, but played a solid game in her first start for Notre Dame. Defensemen junior Mara Catlaw, sophomore Caroline Thomas and sophomore Meaghan Ayers each proved themselves on offense with a goal and several assists.
The Maroons scored two goals, but it was not enough to hold off the Irish. Notre Dame defeated the Maroons 13-2 while receiving goals from 10 different players.
Squash
The Irish traveled to Palo Alto, Calif. this weekend for the Pac 12 Championships at Stanford, where the Irish finished 1-3.
Notre Dame dropped an 8-1 contest, and a pair of 9-0 matches to the three strongest west coast teams — Washington, California and Stanford, which is coached by Mark Talbott, former No. 1 ranked player in the world.
The shining moment for the Irish was an 8-1 victory over USC.
The Notre Dame squash B team traveled to Madison, Wis. to play several new club programs. The Irish went 1-3 against the A teams, dropping matches to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Northwestern and defeating Illinois-Springfield.
Ski and Snowboard
The Notre Dame Ski and Snowboard team traveled to northern Michigan over the Jan. 21-22 weekend to compete in a two-day race. Official results are released late in the week by the MCSA.
Junior Thomas Knoedler led the men's alpine team with a first place individual finish in Jan. 21's slalom event, and freshman Meg Bryck put up the top time for the women.
The team had to deal with challenging snow conditions in the area.
"It got a little bit wet overnight, which made it tricky to ski the next day," senior John Delacio said.
However, the team still posted several strong finishes in the Sunday events. The men's snowboard team finished just outside the podium with junior Kevin Condit recording the top ND finish.
The women's ski team finished fourth, led by senior Natalie Bartzen's strong showing in the DFL spot.
"We look forward to being out cold next weekend and improving on our results," senior Olivia Killian said.
Outing
One of the newest club's at Notre Dame, the outing club traveled to the Dunes for a weekend of hiking and outdoor activities. Anyone interested in joining the club is asked to get in touch with the club at Recsports.nd.edu
