Lincoln Center Skate Club figure skater Laurel Knight competes in the Indiana Figure Skating Championship Series Columbus Invitational at the Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, March 5, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
When Columbus was awarded the opening event in the newly-created Indiana Figure Skating Championship Series, Lincoln Center Skate Club’s oldest members were ecstatic about the chance to compete on their home ice.
Saturday afternoon, those three skaters, along with several younger skaters from LCSC and Columbus’ Learn To Skate program were able to compete in front of a home crowd at the Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena in the Columbus Invitational.
“I think it was just a really nice opportunity because usually, the competition held here is for lower event levels, so it was nice to skate at our home rink and just have the opportunity to perform and practice our routines,” Emily Martin said.
Martin, a senior at Columbus North, and Katherine Schmelz, a junior at North, were the lone competitors in the Novice Ladies Excel Free Skate. Laurel Knight, a senior at Columbus East, was the lone entrant in the Senior Ladies Excel Free Skate.
“It’s really nice to practice with the pressure of an audience and only having a short warmup, and it gives us a chance to see where we are how much our training adds to our performances,” Schmelz said.
“It means even more as a senior because I know this not really for me about competing and earning the most points, it’s about just competing with all these people that I’ve trained with for so long and seeing all the little kids compete and then being able to compete alongside with them,” Knight added. “Instead of volunteering or supporting them, I can be there and actually go through it with them. That was really cool.”
Knight scored a 42.61 to win the Senior Ladies Excel Free Skate.
“I haven’t competed in over five years, so I was just glad to get out there,” Knight said. “I definitely could have landed more jumps, but I’m really happy with what I did. One of the really cool things about this competition is that it’s our home rink. I’ve really been focused on testing, and I want to get to that gold medal level in both moves in the field and free skate, so that’s really what I’m working on, and I haven’t been focused on competing. So I was really happy to do this because it’s in our hometown, and I don’t usually get that many chances to compete.”
Martin won the Novice Ladies Excel Free Skate with a 38.73 to Schmelz’s 33.88.
“I think it went really well for me today,” Martin said. “It’s my first time having an actual event in the longform, so being able to land all my jumps was a really nice experience.”
“In general, it really showed how much we practiced and how hard we practiced, and I think we all did how we expected to, which is really nice to feel,” Schmelz addded.
While the Columbus event is the first of four in the Indiana Figure Skating Championship Series, none of the three older girls are entered to compete in the latter three events, which are in June in Carmel, August in Fort Wayne and September in Evansville. Knight and Martin will be moving on to college and plan to continue their figure skating careers.
“This summer and moving forward, I’m just going to focus on building up my skills for college,” Knight said. “I think we all are. Just get that base building in and get ready for the next chapter. So we’re not really worried about competing this year. I know it’s a lot different in college, but there’s still competitions, and I hope to compete more in college and have more of a team aspect, maybe do synchro or something like that.”
The Columbus Invitational will conclude with competition in some of the lower levels from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. today. Admission is free.
At the end of the day, a trophy will be awarded to the club with the most points, and LCSC figures to be in the running.
“These kids did very well,” said Liz Fernandes, one of the LCSC coaches. “A lot of the kids have really skated their best. There’s an awful lot of new, young children skating, so that’s a good thing.”
Fernandes is joined on the LCSC coaching staff by Katie Baxter, Emma Baxter-Valbuena, Taylor Burdekin and Heather Lehnert. They were glad to be able to host this weekend’s event.
“It’s always nice to compete in your home rink,” Fernandes said. “This rink is wonderful. We know that. We are very lucky.”
