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Westport Girls Help Synchronized Skating Teams Earn Medal

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nearly 900 skaters traveled from the tri-state area and across the Eastern Seaboard to compete in the 15th Annual Terry Conners Synchronized Skating Open in Stamford this past weekend.

Girls from the Shadows on the Southern Connecticut Synchronized Skating team skate during the competition.

Girls from the Shadows on the Southern Connecticut Synchronized Skating team skate during the competition.

Photo Credit: Actionphotos.com
The Sprites won silver with their performance to “Stray Cat Strut” by The Stray Cats.

The Sprites won silver with their performance to “Stray Cat Strut” by The Stray Cats.

Photo Credit: Actionphotos.com
The Shimmers, a Pre-Juvenile team, finished fifth against tough competition.

The Shimmers, a Pre-Juvenile team, finished fifth against tough competition.

Photo Credit: Actionphotos.com
Girls on the Shimmers perform their routine to the “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin” theme song from Teen Beach Movie.

Girls on the Shimmers perform their routine to the “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin” theme song from Teen Beach Movie.

Photo Credit: Actionphotos.com
The Shadows won bronze with their performance to “Why Don’t You Do Right?” by Sinead O’Connor.

The Shadows won bronze with their performance to “Why Don’t You Do Right?” by Sinead O’Connor.

Photo Credit: Actionphotos.com
The Shadows glide along the ice during the competition.

The Shadows glide along the ice during the competition.

Photo Credit: Actionphotos.com

A record number of 67 teams taking part in the competition signals the sport’s growing popularity.

Competing against 10 other Open Juvenile level teams, the Southern Connecticut Skating Club's Shadows won bronze with their performance to “Why Don’t You Do Right?” by Sinead O’Connor.

Samantha Scordo from Old Greenwich said, “I just had the best time of my life – performing this with the people I love so much. We are a family.”

The Sprites, a Beginner 2 level team from the Darien club, won silver with their performance to “Stray Cat Strut” by The Stray Cats. They competed against teams Precisely Right of Morristown, N.J., and Team Esprit of Hamden, who won gold and bronze respectively.

“I was a little nervous at first, but then I knew it was the best skate we’ve done so far,'' said Stamford's Navaeh Mills, a member of the team.

The SCSC Shimmers, the Pre-Juvenile team, faced tough competition in a flight of 10 and placed fifth with their performance to “Cruisin’ for a Bruisin” theme song from "Teen Beach Movie."

"We’ve worked really hard on this program and excited about how well we came together as a team to perform it in front of our hometown crowd,” Shimmers skater and Stamford resident Isabela Malone said.

Head coach Gina Valenzano-Gomez and assistant coaches Val Legutko and Kari Pace created the vision for these programs. From last summer until next spring, the coaches work to choreograph the programs to music, guide the design of the costumes, and ultimately train each skater’s varying level to blend as one.

“Our lines skated hard and prepared well for this moment. This is our first competition of the season; I think this will only be motivating for them," coach Valenzano-Gomez said after the Shadows' award ceremony. 

“They skated well; they’re at a point now when they’ll perfect the elements and practice to keep it clean.,'' Pace said.

The team will compete next month at the Colonial Classic Competition in Massachusetts and three more events after that. 

This year’s SCSC team is comprised of a total of 40 skaters from: Stamford, Greenwich, Westport, Darien, Norwalk, New Canaan, and White Plains, N.Y. Team members are:

SHADOWS: Michelle Han, Stephanie Tancs, Danielle Nugent, Samantha Scordo, Brooke Ferris, Amanda Brea, Kalaudia Auz, Klara Hoherchak, Emily Merole, Emilly Hernandez and Natalie Pesantez.

SHIMMERS: Natalie Hernandez, Nevada Rivera, Deanna Gladstone, Chloe Gerace, Athena Hartigan, Rachel Iannazzo, Isabella Osinovsky, Vanessa Wynter, Isabela Malone, Kelly Fox, Olivia Linnartz, Julia Brown, Kara McLaughlin, Alyssa Fish and Madeline Ciampa.

SPRITES: Daniela Castagna, Anastasia Ladyka, Sabrina Paris, Sofia Gonzalez, Samantha Paris, Sarah Arevalo, Caitlyn Foster, Nevaeh Mills, Leah Shiff, Charlotte Carter, Adeline Hawley, Paola Gonzalez, Cynthia Chen and Nicole Salanty.

Find out more about the teams online.

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