Emily Schaller, Kelly Martin, Lara Pruitt, and Olga Kowalewsky Schneider edged out the Stanford University team by a single point at the contest--a feat in itself, considering the premium California's other premier private college places on athletics--and also outscrambled teams from UC Santa Cruz, the University of Denver, and host San Jose State University for top berth. The three highest-scoring teams will advance to the national competition this weekend in Denver.
Caltech's newest sports champs say they are elated by their win, and only slightly sobered by the fact that their newly formed team does not yet even have travel funds or a coach. But once word circulates around campus that Caltech now participates in one of the most graceful of sports, the interest is likely to rise quickly.
"It's the same figure skating that you see on TV, with a short program and a long program. In addition, we also compete in ice dancing," says team cofounder Schaller, who has been skating 16 of her 22 years. "But at the collegiate level it's a lot different because we're a team and rooting for each other. In noncollegiate competitions you are just out for yourself."
Schaller is a first-year graduate student in planetary science who works with former Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Bruce Murray, now an emeritus professor at Caltech. It was Murray, in fact, who spread the word of the Caltech women's win after he received an enthusiastic e-mail from Schaller about the victory.
"Talk about real amateur athletics!" Murray said. "When was the last time Caltech beat Stanford and a UC campus in any sport?"
Associate Director of Athletic Mark Harriman, who helped the team with limited funding and administrative support, says he's overjoyed at their success.
"This win is totally out of nowhere for us, but it's exciting," Harriman said. "They came to us for the first time a couple of months ago and said, 'Hey, we kinda did this and we're kinda good at it, so is there something you can do to help us?'"
Harriman was able to provide some money for entrance fees and what-have-you, but the team members have yet to arrange funding for their trip to Denver this weekend.
"To tell the truth, I was planning on going whether or not we qualified--just to see my friends," said Schaller, who also cofounded the collegiate ice skating team at Dartmouth when she was an undergraduate.
The claim that Caltech figure-skating team members are "kinda good" at ice skating is likely an understatement. As a child, Schaller, a Vermont native, was already seriously considering a career as an ice-skater, but decided at 13 to forego the day-long practices and special schooling for "a normal life."
"Now, if I can train an hour a day, that's really good," Schaller said, explaining that her regimen once consisted of daily practice sessions of up to six hours.
Kelly Martin, a sophomore from Austin, Texas, started out doing jumps and spins, but eventually decided to focus on ice dancing. She often traveled hours to find judges and a partner for tests. Like all collegiate ice dancers these days, Martin competes alone due to the shortage of men to partner with.
Teammate Olga Kowalewsky Schneider has an unconventional story of her own. An accomplished skater during childhood, she gave up the sport for many years and only recently returned to the rink.
"It's amazing how quickly it comes back if you skated as a child," says Schneider, a graduate student in aeronautics who works with Michael Ortiz.
Lara Pruitt, a freshman, initially took two years of ballet when the local ice rink said she was too small to start skating. Determined to skate, she spent high school sewing costumes and teaching group lessons in exchange for ice time and coaching, and eventually became a registered US Figure Skating Association coach.
The Caltech women face stiff competition this weekend at the national level. Teams that have qualified include Dartmouth, the University of Delaware, Cornell, Miami University of Ohio, Michigan State, and Western Michigan. Stanford and San Jose State, because of their second- and third-place finishes, also qualified for the national competition. The University of Denver also qualified on a bye due to bad weather.
Contact: Robert Tindol (626) 395-3631