After a season of intense competition and early-morning practices, the DU club figure skating team placed 6th in the collegiate nationals competition at Colorado College in Colorado Springs April 21-22.

The team is made up of 28 girls, 21 of whom competed at nationals. Most of the skaters have prior experience from high school. Because the team does not have a coach, many of the girls have their old coaches come in for individual work.

In order to make it to nationals, a team must be ranked in the top three in the region. After three regional competitions at Colorado College, Colorado State University and DU, the Pioneers were ranked 1st in the Pacific Coast region. Despite their prominent seeding heading into nationals, the team didn’t fare as well as they had hoped.

“Nationals didn’t go as well this year as it did last year,” said next year’s president, Rylie Pepich. “Pretty much half the team was sick and it was just bad timing. But all the same, everyone did their best and worked really hard.”

After placing 6th this year, the team has continued practicing and is looking forward to competition next fall.

“We met with some prospective students who may be interested in joining the team next year,” said Pepich. “We had nine freshmen this year and are hoping for another big group to continue building our team so we can stay really competitive.”

Though their season is over, the team is hosting a Disney ice show at Joy Burns Arena on campus on May 11 at 8 p.m.