The
Genesee Express competed in three divisions:
Beginner, Pre-Juvenile and Open Junior.
This was the first competition of the season for the Beginner Team, and
they came in first place winning the gold medal skating a challenging program
to the Beatles’ “Twist and Shout”. This
team of eight is comprised of both the newest and youngest figure skaters in
the Genesee Figure Skating Club, including Sofia DiFrancesca, Nicole Franki,
Oliver Hess, Hannah Magin, Jessica Mao, Emily Stanley, Meredith Watson and
Laura Vannozzi.
The
Pre-Juvenile team placed second in the Port City Invitational with their two-minute
program choreographed to Madonna’s “Vogue”.
The Pre-Juvenile skaters include Yarden Abittan, Lexi Bozza, Katrya Cichanowicz, Kimberly Couse, Kristen
Goodrich, Ashley Jarkowski, Amy Li, Jenna Loeffler, Emily Papa and Emily
Slifkin.
The
Open Junior Team took the silver medal; they skated their four-minute program with
competitive speed and precision to music from Cirque du Soleil’s “Zumanity”. The skaters on the Open Junior Team are
Samantha Corrigan, Stephanie Cowey, Emma Daitz, Annie Edmundson, Alexandra
Edmundson, Jordana Gilman, Ali Mancuso, Leni Mundt, Stephanie Northwood, Risa
Robinson, Claire Stack, Tracy Standish, Brianna Vay, and Lija Zurovskis. The Open Junior Team is competing later this
month at the Empire State Winter Games in Lake Placid.
All
three teams’ programs include various elements such as lines, blocks, pinwheels
or three-spoke wheels, and pass-throughs with increasing difficulty and speed
in each successive level.
The
teams are led by coaches Aaron-Taylor Austin, head coach for the Genesee
Express teams; Richard Hoffman who has brings many years of skating, competing
and coaching expertise to the teams and Allyssa LaPlaca who has also skated for
many years on the Genesee Express teams. The teams practice at RIT’s Frank
Ritter Arena and are part of the Genesee Figure Skating Club.