and in all the lives of her Highland Skating sisters throughout the years.” Hughes, who plans to start a career in exercise science in the coming months, led after the short program by 2.70 points. She pulled away with a well-balanced free skate to music by Brahms. De- spite an opening fall on a triple toe, Hughes landed a huge triple Salchow-double toe combination, a triple toe-double toe combination, a pair of dou- ble Axels and a double Lutz-double loop-double loop combination. Hughes’ program also featured Level 3 spins and a footwork sequence that earned Level 4. She fi nished with a score of 122.72, more than nine points better than Kacie Kotnik, a math and statistics major who collected the silver medal for Northern Kentucky University. T e University of Michigan’s Becky Berseswill, who is pursuing a degree in economics, secured the bronze medal, with Malone University’s Amber Walczyk, a psy- chology major, gaining the pewter medal. Hughes received $5,000, Kotnik, $2,500 and
Bereswill, $1,000, from the Pioneer Fund’s Colle- giate Championship Award. Fashion Institute of Technology’s Kevin Cop- pola won the senior men’s title by 34 points, and in turn he received the $5,000 Collegiate Cham- pionship Award. Coppola is in his senior year at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where he majors in international trade. “I am pleased with how I skated this week-
end,” Coppola said. “I have been working hard. T e scholarship money will really help with my studies and skating; I am very lucky.” Coppola credits the coaching team of Steven
Rice and Elaine Zayak for his success. “T eir belief in me over the past two years fol-
lowing my hip surgery enabled me to be successful at Collegiates,” Coppola said. Matthew McAvoy, a senior at the University
of Vermont, garnered the silver medal. In the junior ranks, Natalie Motley captured
the title by more than nine points in a fi eld of eight ladies. Motley is an environmental science and ag- ricultural major at the University of Mary Wash- ington. Her free skate included Level 3 and Level 4 spins and footwork. She won both segments of the
(l-r) Junior ladies medalists Natalie Motley, Caroline Knoop, Alexis McDonnell and Flora Su (l-r) Junior men’s medalists Christian Burner, Matej Silecky and Jonathan Jerothe
event and fi nished with 100.70 points. Dartmouth College’s Caroline Knoop, who
is majoring in psychology, repeated as the event’s silver medalist. T ird after the short program, she rallied to place second in the free skate and fi nished with 91.45 points. Alexis McDonnell, a journalism major and
freshman at Syracuse University, secured the bronze medal with 88.76 points, while Flora Su of the University of Vermont placed fourth with 85.12 points. Matej Silecky, a fi rst-year sophomore at Uni-
versity of California at Berkeley studying Russian, theater and acting, dominated the fi eld of three in the junior men’s event.
He racked up a total score of 130.74, more than 41 points better than silver medalist Christian Burner of the University of Illinois. In addition to entering college this fall, Matej will skate on the UC Berkeley Intercollegiate Team and will become more involved in coaching and trial judging. Burner notched a total score of 89.66 points. “It has been a long time since I’ve been able to compete healthy and could enjoy what I’m doing on the ice,” Burner said. Jonathan Jerothe, a physics student at the
University of Delaware, fi nished third with 79.89 points.
Kevin Coppola
delivers a fi ne perfor- mance en route to the senior men’s crown.