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For the fifth consecutive year, Dartmouth’s figure skating team returned from
the U.S. National Intercollegiate Figure Skating Team Championships as
national champions. Thirteen Dartmouth skaters made the trip to Ann Arbor,
Mich., for the National Championship competition, held April 5 through 6 and
sponsored by the University of Michigan.
 The Dartmouth figure skating team with the 2008 U.S. National
Intercollegiate Figure Skating Team Championship trophy. Coach Loren
McGean ’92 is at the far right. (Photo by Lucia Schmidt)
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“The Dartmouth skaters were amazing,” says coach Loren McGean ’92. “We are
thrilled with this win.” Dartmouth tallied 91 points in capturing their first
place finish, outskating second and third place teams from Indiana University
and the University of Delaware, who finished just two points apart, with 75 and
73 points respectively. Contributing to Big Green’s numbers were top-3 finishes
for nine of Dartmouth’s skaters, including event wins for Tenley Brownwright
’10, Hallie Damon ’08, co-captain Daniel Dittrick ’08, Rory Grant ’11,
Alexandra Mahler-Haug ’11, and co-captain Nicole Newman ’08.
Brownwright’s national championship victory in the Junior Long program
brings with it the honor of induction into Dartmouth’s Wearers of the Green.
Grant was the team's individual high point scorer for nationals, earning a
total of 18 points for Dartmouth. Each one of Dartmouth skaters contributed to
the team’s point total, including Natalie Falsgraf ’10, who flew from her
spring term studies in Rome to join the team in Ann Arbor for the
competition.
 Rory Grant '11—sister of former co-captain Taylor Grant '06—was
Dartmouth's lead scorer at nationals with 18 points. (Photo by Ben
Bostick)
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Going into nationals, the Dartmouth team was far from complacent about the
prospect of a repeat. “Every year is a new game,” says McGean. “We’re a small
team this year, just fourteen skaters. The team welcomed three fabulous
freshmen this fall,” she reports, “including Rory Grant ’11, who is the sister
of former captain Taylor Grant ’06.” Besides, she notes, familiarity with the
winner’s podium doesn’t relieve the pressure. “Two classes of seniors had never
lost. That sets expectations very high. But the team thrives on pressure, and
does extraordinarily well with it”—as the 2008 Championship results bear
out.
“The team works hard to stay motivated, and stay grateful for what we have
and where we are,” says McGean. Staying motivated is a unique challenge when
the season is an extended one and competitions are spread out. Dartmouth
competes in the Eastern Conference of the collegiate skating program overseen
by U.S. Figure Skating, and participated in regional qualifying competitions at
Boston University in February and at the University of Delaware in March. This
season those two competitions and nationals comprised the team’s entire
competitive schedule. Training continues throughout the year, with fitness
workouts and dance classes supplementing the skaters’ time on the ice.
Figure skating is a club sport at Dartmouth, and relies on its Friends Group
to supplement funds provided by the College. The team has seen particular
support from the Class of 1964, which helped underwrite the 2007 championship
meet that Dartmouth hosted, and from the Class of 1949, which has given
continuing support to the team. The J. Michael McGean ’49 Endowment Fund, which
was announced in a luncheon honoring Coach Michael McGean held in conjunction
with the 2007 championship, brought the team its first permanent funding
source. The senior McGean, who was the 1950 World Ice Dance Champion, now
serves as the team’s coach emeritus. He continues to stays in touch with the
skaters, notes Loren McGean. The team’s academic advisor, Assistant Professor
of Earth Sciences Ben Bostick,
accompanied the skaters to Ann Arbor.
Figure skating helped draw senior co-captain Newman to Dartmouth. “I
remember walking into Thompson Arena for the first time with Mr. McGean and
thinking, ‘I will be so lucky if I get to skate here,’” she recalls. “Dartmouth
having a nationally ranked figure skating team was a big part of what attracted
me to the school.” Her fellow co-captain and senior Dan Dittrick—the team’s
only male skater—has found being part of the team “an amazing experience. Being
in such a unique position on the team has been a stepping stone for bonding and
forging relationships with a variety of wonderful people, from skaters and
students to administrators, alumnae, and alumni,” he says. “I’ve learned a
great deal about the necessity of careful communication and cooperation.”
And both captains have great praise for their coach: “Working with Loren has
made me reflect on and appreciate the effects that dedication and perseverance
has on something about which you are extremely passionate,” says Dittrick. It’s
just those qualities—passion, dedication, and perseverance—on the part of the
skaters, their supporters, and their coaches, which have helped make the
Dartmouth figure skating team national champions again and again.
By KELLY SEAMAN
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