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Skyliners Synchronized Skating Team competes in Synchronized skating.

The Skyliners SST was founded in 2001 and has become the nations largest and most successful, parent-run synchronized skating team.

2012-13

Skyliners continued its historical success at the 2013 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships in Plymouth Michigan! Skyliners took 5 metals at the 2013 National Championships. Friday night our seniors skated a clean short program and placed fifth out of nine heading into tonight’s Free Skate. Coincidentally, the four teams ahead of us after the short program were exactly the same teams who finished ahead of us at last year’s Nationals where our seniors placed fifth and earned the coveted “Team USA” designation. For the long program, our Seniors skated fifth. They performed their program as never before earning more than 100 points for the first time and earning a standing ovation in the sold out Compuware Arena. Most of the senior free skate programs include lifts – fantastic acrobatic feats where skaters are hoisted high in the air while they’re moving across the ice at break neck speed, often turning, twisting, twirling and somersaulting before being gently placed back on the ice. The lifts are breathtaking and our girls did not disappoint, performing them effortlessly and flawlessly. When our score of 104.57 was announced, Skyliners was firmly in first place with the four teams who scored higher than us in the short program left to skate. One thing was certain when we finished our skate: we were assured of at least fifth place and another year as TeamUSA. That USFSA designation means that our Seniors will once again be representing the USA at a competition in Europe next season. After the first three of the remaining teams skated, each performed well and maintained the standing they held after the short program. That left only one team to skate – ICE’Kateers. With almost a five point edge in the short, ICE’Kateers was in a strong position to repeat their 2012 pewter (4th place) medal finish. ICE’Kateers skated their program cleanly and all of us in the Skyliners section held our collective breaths as we waited for the score. Then it was announced – 99.5—or 33/100ths less than ICE’Kateers needed to bump us from fourth. Fourth place was ours and with it our first ever Senior medal at Nationals. This is an incredible achievement for a team only two years old. Nationals actually began on Thursday afternoon, after an impressive opening ceremony filled with pageantry, parading and impressive skating exhibitions. First up was the Juvenile championship. As you know, our Juvies have had a storybook season by every measure and this weekend was a great culmination. They’re fast, confident and so much fun to watch. This is a winning team with the poise and maturity to deal with any situation. In a very competitive division our Juvies successfully defended their Silver from last year’s Nationals and in grand fashion landed on the podium once again with the 2013 Juvenile Silver medal. Congratulation girls! Your performance opened the competition with a bold statement and set the stage for Skyliners most successful Nationals ever. Next up was Intermediate. What a skate these girls had! As you may know, Intermediate is one of the hardest divisions to medal in. Partly because of the wide age range for Intermediate and partly because some clubs don’t have enough synchro skaters to form multiple teams, for many of our competitors Intermediate is their highest line – the line with their best skaters. Just getting to Nationals as an Intermediate team is a challenge. I think there were 16 teams at Easterns vying for 4 positions at Nationals. But this proved to be no problem for our Intermediates. If you were in Compuware arena, you would have been standing and cheering when Intermediate completed their spectacular skate and walked away with a bronze medal, only 4.1 points away from gold medalists Team Del Sol of San Diego and only 84/100s behind silver medalists Fon Du Lac Blades of Wisconsin. Congratulations girls. What an incredible end to your season! Thursday culminated with the Junior short. There are no superlatives I can use for our Juniors that haven’t been used already. Running neck and neck with Team Braemar of Minnesota, our Juniors skated fabulously and finished the short just 44/100ths behind front runner Braemar setting the table for an exciting battle in the long for the following night. Friday’s competition started at 3pm with the Novice competition. After finishing fifth at last year’s Nationals, Novice came to Plymouth on a mission – to get on the podium this year and bring home a medal. Mission accomplished. Novice wowed the crowd and the judges with their beautiful Cinderella program and skated it as well as they had all year. When the competition was complete our Novice girls were the only Eastern team on the podium, sharing honors the podium with the very fine Novice teams from Chicago Jazz and Crystallettes, and bringing home the Novice Bronze medal. All of your hard work paid off girls. What a year, what a Nationals. Congratulations! Next up on Thursday was the Senior Short program. Last year in Seniors debut year, we finished a very respectable fifth place and earned TeamUSA status. Now fast forward one year. Skyliners improved their short score from 2012 but so did everyone else. By the end of the short competition the standings were almost a mirror image of 2012 final results, with Haydenettes in first, Miami Ohio in second, Crystallettes in third, ICE’Kateers in fourth and our seniors in fifth. Well, you already know that our unflappable Senior’s edged out ICE’Kateers for the final podium spot and Skyliners first ever Senior level medal at Nationals. What a great job in only two years. Kudos girls! Thursday’s program ended with the Junior free skate – the main event to determine Junior champion. If you weren’t in Plymouth or didn’t see it live on Ice Network, you missed one of the most beautiful performances ever and a captivating competition. When it was over our incredible Juniors were on the podium with the Silver medal, and a fabulous sendoff to their trip to Worlds next week in Helsinki. In doing so, our Juniors once again earned TeamUSA status for the 2013-14 season. Skyliners has five lines that are eligible to qualify for Nationals: Juvenile, Intermediate, Novice, Junior and Senior. All five lines qualified for Nationals. All five lines competed and ALL FIVE LINES MEDALED. It’s an awesome accomplishment and a credit to everyone involved with Skyliners, literally dozens of fanatically dedicated coaches, chaperones, supportive parents, board members and every single girl who dons a Skyliners dress and represents this organization where it counts the most - on the ice. There are no words to express how proud this organization is of all that you do and how appreciative we are that you are a Skyliner.

History

2011-12 season

Category:Synchronized skating teams