May 16, 2008- Lindenwood University announced today that it has added another varsity sport to its athletics department. The growing sport of synchronized skating will be the newest program for one of the largest and most successful athletics departments in the nation.
Synchronized skating is the newest discipline of figure skating. Teams of 8-20 athletes perform, using all of the basic elements of figure skating with the exception of jumps. The sport is not yet an Olympic event, but it debuted in the 2007 Winter World University Games as an exhibition sport. It will be a full medal sport at the 2011 Winter World University Games.
This past season, 42 teams participated in college synchronized skating. The top teams qualify through a sectional competition for the Collegiate National Championship, which is hosted by the U.S. Figure Skating Association.
Head coach of the Lindenwood team will be St. Charles native Brittany Wisenor. The 2002 graduate of Francis Howell North was a four-time competitor in the National Championship while attending Miami (Ohio) and was also a three-time team member of the USA World Synchronized Skating team. She helped the 2006 Miami squad win the 2006 national championship. She is a triple gold medalist in moves, dance and freestyle, and holds membership in United States Figure Skating, Ice Skating Institute and the Professional Skaters Association.
Wisenor's skating career began in 1995 at the St. Peters RecPlex. She was a member of the St. Louis Diamond Edges Junior Synchronized Skating team from 1998-2002. She is currently coaching the St. Louis Fleur de Lis Synchronized Skating teams, which represents the St. Louis Skating Club. Wisenor led the 2007-08 intermediate team to a fifth-place finish at the 2008 Midwestern & Pacific Synchronized Skating Team Sectional Championships, and helped the Open Juvenile team come in ninth at that event.
The Lindenwood synchronized skating program will begin competition during the 2008-09 season and will practice and compete at the Lindenwood Ice Arena in Wentzville, Mo.
