3/5/11 ONTARIO, Calif.--Golden Girl Betty White may be "Hot in Cleveland" these days, but Miami University's collegiate team--the "Golden Girls" of synchronized skating--have been fire on ice.
Behind a score of 96.16, Miami University's collegiate synchronized skating team made history on Saturday evening at the U.S. National Championships, winning an unprecedented seventh-straight national title and capturing gold for the 13th time in program history.
No synchronized skating team at any level has seized seven straight national titles.
Skating their program to a Brazilian Carnival theme, the RedHawks again dominated their competition, winning the national crown by an 11-point margin among a 12-team field. Miami had a clean skate with no deductions and posted a total element score of 47.13 and a program component score of 49.13. It is the second straight competition where Miami has won by a double-figure margin.
Michigan State finished in second place with a score of 85.17, followed closely by Michigan with a score of 83.96. Western Michigan placed fourth with a score of 79.11, followed by Delaware (73.61), Team Excel (70.86), New Hampshire (68.57), Minnesota (64.30), Wisconsin (62.09), Boston (58.67), Oswego State Ice Effects (56.34) and Maryland (49.19).
Miami's collegiate team completes its season winning three straight competitions.
The RedHawk senior team finished second at the U.S. National Championships later Saturday evening to earn a berth to the ISU World Championships.
http://www.muredhawks.com/sports/w-syncssk/recaps/030511aac.html
It is wonderful to be back home in New England after an amazing first year at Miami. I kicked off the summer volunteering at the SONH Summer Games followed by a quick trip to NYC to workout with NBC Universal's "Healthy Week" Step-a-Thon in Times Square http://www.healthyatnbcu.com/.
