Staff Reports
Twenty-one Lincoln Center Skate Club members and four skaters from Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena competed in the Battle of the Blades in Fort Wayne. The event is the only U.S. Figure Skating competition in the Eastern Great Lakes Region since March.
In the Well-Balanced track, Vincia Li, a seventh-grader at Northside Middle School, finished sixth in Preliminary Free Skate; Michaela Aker, a sixth-grader at St. Peters, took second in the No Test Free Skate; and Vivian Niu, a freshman at Bloomington South, competed in the Pre-Juvenile Free Skate, the opening event for the entire competition. Aker also won No Test Compulsory Moves, and Niu and Li finished second in Open Juvenile Compulsory Moves and Pre-Juvenile Compulsory Moves.
Madeleine Shaw, a senior at Bloomington North and a USFS gold medalist in both compulsory moves and dance, won gold medals in Novice Excel Free Skate, Novice Jumps Challenge and Novice Spins Challenge.
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Katherine Schmelz won silver medals in Intermediate Excel Free Skate and Novice Spins Challenge. Emily Martin finished third in Intermediate Excel Free Skate. Mayu Ball won Pre-Preliminary Jumps Challenge and also competed in Preliminary Excel Plus Free Skate with her sister Miyu Ball, who also competed in the Preliminary Jumps Challenge.
Amy Xu placed second in Preliminary Excel Free Skate and Pre-Preliminary Spins Challenge. Yurika Yoshino competed in Pre-Preliminary Excel Free Skate. Erica Lambert and Eleanor Brumett won the Free Skate 2 Program and Free Skate 1 program separately.
Among Young and Adult skaters, Athena Niu won the Pre-Free Skate Program. Claudia Gordon finished second in the High Beginner Jumps Challenge and fifth in High Beginner Excel Free Skate. Courtland Reed took second in Pre-Free Skate Compulsory Moves and sixth in Pre-Free Skate Program.
Megan Miller won the gold medal in Adult Pre-Bronze Free Skate. Amber Rizzo won a silver in Adult Bronze Free Skate.
Anna Reed won gold in Basic 5 Program and Compulsory Moves. Madelyn Aker and Giuliana Mackos finished second and third in Basic 6 Free Skate. Claira Gordon won silver in Basic 5 Program.
Cindy Chen won the Basic 6 Free Skate. Colton Pepmeier placed first in Basic 4 Elements and second in Basic 4 Program. Zeynep Karhan took second in Basic 3 Program. Cayden Gaskins was second in Basic 2 Program.
Hockey
Icemen go 1-1-1
The Columbus Icemen fell to Valpo 5-2, tied Fort Wayne Vipers 2-2 and beat St. Joe 3-2. Brayson Bennet led the team with four goals and two assists. Ethan Kuniewicz netted two goals and two assists, Alex Clark scored one goal, John Ferguson recorded four assists, Andrew Clark had three assists and Barrett Mudd and Blaine Humphrey each added one assist. Cam Stattenfield, Ben Blanz and Jacob McMullen each were in net one game.
Columbus Flames Peewee A beat Irish Rovers 2-1 and 6-3 and split with Midwest Blackbirds, falling 4-3 winning 4-3. Eduardo Aranda netted four goals and one assist, Will Jamerson recorded three goals and one assist, Sawyer Patterson and Drew Weed each had two goals and one assist, Carson King scored two goals, River Degner and Tyson Tyner each had one goal and two assists, Lancer Kitterman notched two assists and Tsukasa Udo and Grace Wallace each added one assist. Lane Barringer was in net.
Columbus Flames Squirt B fell 3-1 and tied 3-3 against Indy Jr. Fuel White. Cooper Ross netted two goals and one assist, Garrett Uy had one goal and one assist, Bentley Hampton scored one goal and Maximilliano Perez added one assist. Cayden Long was in net both games with a save percentage of 81.25.
Columbus Flames Bantams lost to Junior Fuel Red 9-2 and 1-0. Samuel McGhehey had one goal and one assist, Hayden Johnson scored one goal and John Roberts added one assist. Zach Goggins was in net both games.
Columbus Flames Peewee B lost to PSM Force 4-1 and 4-0. Henry Schloemer scored one goal and Ayden Richardson and Aaron Warble each had one assist. Gabe Marsh was in net.
SWIMMING
Utterback competes
Daniel Utterback, a sophomore at Columbus North competed for Franklin Regional Swim Teamin last weekend’s OLY Winter Invite & USA Swimming 18-and-Under Championships in Elkhart.
Utterback finished eighth in the 50-yard freestyle, ninth in the 100 freestyle, 15th in the 200 freestyle, 21st in the 100 backstroke and 24th in the 100 butterfly. He also swam on the second-place 400 freestyle relay and 200 freestyle relay teams and the third-place 400 medley relay team.
Utterback ranks 35th nationally and third in Indiana for the 50 freestyle and 37th in the nation and second in Indiana for the 100 freestyle among 15-year-olds.
