Central Mass. Skaters Hit the Ice At DCU Center

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Joe Parello, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

The 2012 US Synchronized Skating Championships currently staged in Worcester’s DCU Center features 89 teams from all over the country, but some skaters did not need to travel very far to perform.

“It’s disappointing that we didn’t get to travel somewhere warmer,” Fitchburg native Mariah Benoit said with a smile. “But it was great that we had more people in the crowd cheering us on, and that everyone got to see us.”

Benoit’s Colonial skating club sent three different teams to the competition from different age groups, and features several skaters from Central Massachusetts. Last year’s National Championships were held in San Diego, California, no doubt a more exotic locale to Benoit, a high school senior. Still, coach Jackie Lovato, unlike her girls, was more than happy to stay local.

“It was really nice not having to travel,” Lovato said. “To get to come somewhere close, where all the girls’ families can come watch and cheer them on, it’s something special.”

But each team had to put in a great deal of work just to make the trip to Worcester, practicing five days a week and maintaining cardiovascular health even while off the ice. The teams only took July off, then worked on their routines and competed all the way though nationals. For Northborough resident Ally Farren, it was worth all the work.

“To make nationals is a thing in itself, but to get to perform our last skate as seniors here was amazing,” Farren said. “I’ve been performing on this same team for seven years, and we’re all really close, so it was great to get to finish it out at nationals with all the girls here.”

Farren, who is currently deciding whether she will continue her skating career at The University of New Hampshire or Miami University, says she enjoyed the whole experience, from coming into town and hanging out with her long-time friends, to performing Friday afternoon for the final time.

The work of building a team ready to compete for a national title is so hard, that it rarely ever stops. Coach Lovato says that many of her skaters are forced to miss out on school trips and family vacations as they work to bringing home the ultimate prize each year. In fact, though the US Championships are just coming to a close, the Colonials will be holding try-outs for next year’s squads in two short weeks.

“It’s a blast, it really is,” Farren said. “It’s everything you ever work for as a skater. To get to nationals and perform out there in front of all those people, it just made me think ‘Wow, this is why I skate.’”

For her part, Benoit also thoroughly enjoyed performing so close to home, but the other senior was slightly shorter with her words.

“It’s a dream.”