OUA Figure Skating Championship set to begin Monday at Varsity Arena

BURLINGTON, Ont. – Varsity Arena will play host to this year's Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Figure Skating Championships, Feb. 22-23, hosted by the University of Toronto, whose Varsity Blues will be looking to capture their first OUA title in 25 years.

The Varsity Blues had a convincing win at this year's OUA Winter Invitational, where they medaled in 10 of the 14 events, and they look poised to better last year's sixth place performance in the OUA Championship.

Two skaters for the Varsity Blues received double-gold at the Winter Invitational: Christina Liao (Dundas, Ont.), in the senior similar pair and the pairs four freeskate, and Chyna Hui (Toronto, Ont.), in the junior silver similar dance and the senior silver solo dance.

Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Liu (Richmond Hill, Ont.) will be looking to maintain her OUA championships success from a year ago, where she hit the podium twice, taking home silver in the intermediate similar pairs and bronze in the junior silver similar dance. Liu also won gold in the senior silver freeskate at the Winter Invitational.

The Western Mustangs enter as defending champions, looking to capture their fifth title in the past six years. They will be showcasing a relatively new team, having lost six OUA medalists from last year's championship team.

But the Mustangs will still be returning half of their bronze medal winning pairs four freeskate team, Jessica Chow (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Giouzelin Mutlu (Toronto, Ont.), as well as 2015 junior silver similar dance gold winner, Nicole Lawson (Toronto, Ont.). Lawson also captured hardware at the OUA Winter Invitational, securing silver in the same event.

The Mustangs finished in seventh overall place in front of their home crowd at the Invitational. Western also finished in the same spot in the synchro event, an event they have illustriously done well in. In addition to Lawson, another bright spot at the Winter Invitational was the gold medal winning performance in the senior silver similar dance by duo Jenna Zaleski (London, Ont.) and Jessica Reid (Owen Sound, Ont.).

The one year removed OUA champion Guelph Gryphons are hoping their last two silver medal performances at major OUA events translate to gold in this year's championship. The Gryphons are coming off a second place finish at the OUA Winter Invitational, where they tied with the McMaster Marauders at 57 points, netting one gold medal in the bronze rhythm dance fours by Hannah Coyle-Asbil (Toronto, Ont.), Gabrielle Boulding (Mississauga, Ont.), Jade Marrow (Guelph, Ont.) and Claire Hughes (West Orange, NJ). 2015 OUA all-stars Kelsey Sobkowich (Grimsby, Ont.), Leeann Duncan (Stirling, Ont.) and Mackenzie Wilson (Innisfil, Ont.) will be returning for the Gryphons, making them one of the clear-cut favourites.

The aforementioned McMaster Marauders finished just one point shy of a podium finish at last year's championship, but after tying for second at the OUA Winter Invitational, they will be looking to change their fortune. Leading the charge for the Marauders will be returning all-star Riley Alison (North York, Ont.), who just a year ago captured gold in both the intermediate similar pairs and the senior silver STARskate. Other returning OUA all-stars hitting the ice for McMaster will be Melissa Sieradzki-Jones (Barrie, Ont.) and Savannah Colameco (Barrie, Ont.), who took home gold in last year's senior silver similar dance. The two were also a part of the school's dance four team who placed second in last year's championship.

Although Ryerson was the recipient of a bronze medal in last year's championship, the Rams will be looking to rebound off of an eighth place finish at the recent OUA Winter Invitational. The Rams have recently made a strong push in the synchro, having made school history at last year's Winter Invitational, where they captured the gold medal in the event for the first time. They followed that up with a synchro bronze at last year's OUA Championship, and will be returning four medalists from the team: Korie Paquette (Amherstburg, Ont.), silver in the senior similar pairs, Sawyer Buchanan (Toronto, Ont.), bronze in the senior silver similar dance and Karen Urquhart (Toronto, Ont.) and Julia Withers (Kenora, Ont.), bronze in the STARskate  gold creative dance.     

While the Waterloo Warriors, 2014-15 winners of the Team Spirit Award, finished in eighth at last year's championship, they will be coming into this year's edition of the event strong, having recently placed fourth at the OUA Winter Invitational. They reached the podium four times at the Invitational, winning gold in the STARskate gold creative dance, silver in both the senior silver similar dance and intermediate synchro skate and bronze in the open men's freeskate. Two medalists from the 2015 OUA Championships will be returning for the Warriors: Christina Glass (Toronto, Ont.), who won bronze in the intermediate similar pairs and Vincent Chan (Richmond Hill, Ont.), silver in the open men's STARskate.

Like the Warriors, the Brock Badgers have shown vast improvement since last year's OUA Championship. After coming in seventh a year ago, they recently placed fifth at the Winter Invitational. Medal hopefuls for the Badgers include Katie Desveaux (Toronto, Ont.) and Laura Holbrough (Ilderton, Ont.), 2015 OUA all-stars, who captured STARskate gold creative dance gold in last year's championship. The former also took home bronze for her effort in the open solo dance.

The Queen's Gaels had a tough showing at the Winter Invitational, having lost a number of podium finishers from last year's team that placed fifth at the OUA Championships.  The lone returning medalist for the Gaels is Melissa Kustra (Surrey, B.C.), who netted bronze in the novice short program.

Rounding out the competition is the Carleton Ravens who will be skating with something to prove at their year's championship. The Ravens' top performances in the OUA Winter Invitational were sixth in the women's novice short program and seventh in the women's junior silver similar dance.

The two-day championship will take place under the following format, with medals being presented at the conclusion of the events:

Monday, Feb. 22

9 a.m. – Sr. Silver Solo Dance
10:10 a.m. – Dance Fours
11:25 a.m. – Sr. Silver Freeskate
12:25 p.m. – Gold STARskate
1:45 p.m. – Sr. Silver Similar Dance
2:45 p.m. – Jr. Silver Similar Dance
4:10 p.m. – Open Solo Dance
5:20 p.m. – Sr. Similar Pairs

Tuesday, Feb. 23

8:30 a.m. – Pairs Fours
9:50 a.m. – Int. Similar pairs
11:10 a.m. – Gold Creative Dance
12:30 p.m. – Novice Short Program
1:30 p.m. – Men's Open Freeskate
2:45 p.m. – Synchro Teams 1-3
3:20 p.m. Synchro Teams 4-6
3:55 p.m. – Synchro Teams 7-9