Pine-Richland students bring home gold with Steel City Blades synchronized skating

One shot.

The Steel City Blades Open Juvenile (Blue) synchronized skating team had one opportunity to impress the judges with their 2 minute, 40 second routine at the U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Championships at Hershey on Jan. 24.

Like a classroom filled with students nervous to see who would be the first to share their presentation with the class, the Blades were selected out of the 23 other teams to go first.

“To do that is a tough bill,” said Blades head coach Katrina Wright. “Knowing that you have to set the bar was a little bit of added pressure for them. I could see in the way they were skating and in their faces that they were nervous, but I kept reminding them that if they kept skating the way they did all year, they would walk away with a medal.”

The Blades executed their routine to perfection, posting a score of 38.91 and besting the second-place team, Team Excel of Boston, by 0.68 points.

“It was unreal. I was in shock for the next month, if I’m being honest,” said Wright, who is only her second year as head coach of the Blades after joining the program as an assistant in 2022-23.

“To achieve something like that that was so new was really mind blowing,” Wright continued. “Knowing the organization hadn’t seen a regional medal in seven years and a regional gold in 12 was incredible. I went in thinking we were going to get a medal and place based off our performances all year, but to get gold was just unbelievable.”

Steel City Blades, who skate primarily out of the RMU Island Sports Center, has been around for 20 years, and this is only the program’s second regional gold medal.

Two Pine-Richland students, seventh grader Lily Golembeski and high school junior Nikki Ebner, were both a part of the Open Juvenile team that took home gold.

Both grew up following in the footsteps of older sisters who also picked up figure skating at young ages.

“It felt really good to win,” Lily said. “We knew our team was up there in scoring, but when you go against 23 other teams, you never know. It felt unreal and was almost like a blur.”

“We set a goal for ourselves, points wise, and our final score was even higher than that,” Nikki added. “The second we saw it, everyone was screaming and jumping around.”

Both were a part of a group of 31 girls, with ages ranging from 12-19, across three competitive teams that went through a long, demanding season to perfect their routine.

The teams are the Preliminary (White) team, the Pre-Juvenile (Red) team and the Open Juvenile (Blue) team, with the Blue team being the top squad. There is also a intro team called the Steel City Stars.

Way back in last April and early May, the Blades held their tryouts. The girls were given June and July off and were welcome to come in once a week in that time for skills and individual drills.

“It allows the girls to get together, especially for the new members to the team,” Wright said.

“I’m there a lot more because of the offseason for hockey,” Lily said. “They have a lot more off-ice conditioning classes, and I’m there four or five hours in the summer.”

Once August rolls around, each team gathers for what Wright calls their “choreography boot camp,” where each team hears its music and learns its routine for the first time.

“It’s an intense, sometimes two- or three-a-day practice schedule for them to get it all in,” Wright said.

For the Blue team, the first competition is the first weekend of November and competition season runs through Valentine’s Day weekend. The team participates in five to six competitions in that time.

This year, the Blue team medaled in all five of its competitions, earning three golds, and a silver and bronze.

But it wasn’t until regionals when they put their best foot forward, scoring not only their highest score all year but hitting all six elements they incorporated into their routine at the start of the year.

“I definitely challenged these girls from day one,” Wright said. “We went for the highest levels we were allowed to attempt at the level we were competing. The judges do put a max on certain levels in terms of you can’t try higher than this, you won’t get credit because they want to make it look nice. We did get them to try the highest possible level.”

“I love how much of a team sport it is,” Nikki said. “There’s no individual. It’s all team success. We all have to work as a team and be in sync with each other. No one person can carry the team. We all need to pull our weight”

It takes a lot for a team to work as one, especially in synchronized events, when the unit must operate as if they are controlled by one mind. That’s where a healthy dose of team bonding goes a long way.

“We do a little team bonding before the season starts,” said Anabel Glatzhofer, an eighth grader at Pine-Richland and a member of the Pre-Juvenile team. “Off-ice is another time for us to bond. At the same time, we’re working on the program.”

Along with their long season and practice sessions, the Blades typically travel long distances for competitions.

“The farthest we’ve travelled to in recent years has been to the Connecticut and Massachusetts areas,” Wright said. “Some years we’ve even gone as far south as Florida.”

“That’s the best part of traveling,” Anabel said. “You get to talk with people on the bus trips and become better friends.”

Anabel and the Pre-Juvenile (Red) team followed up the Blue team’s regional gold medal by earning a gold medal of their own a week later, at coincidentally, Hershey.

“That team also achieved their highest score and first gold medal of their season,” Wright said.

“It was really exciting for me,” Anabel said. “That was my first ever synchro gold medal. I have won other medals for individual events.”

Anabel, who started figure skating when she was 9 so she could skate in the future with her friends, has competed in seven competitions for the Pittsburgh Figure Skating Club as a solo act and does very well, usually placing in her events.

Her goal is to work hard and put forth a good effort in next month’s tryouts in order to make it on the Blue team for next year.

The Blades will hold their end of the year showcase during RMU’s Shamrock skate, which will allow the teams to perform their routines for an outside audience in the hopes of bringing in more skaters.

“This year was a small year for us numbers wise, and we always hope to have more,” Wright said. “Ideally, we would be up in the 12 to 15-16 range of skaters per team.”

After the showcase, the Blades will end their year with a banquet, where a banner with a photo of this year’s regional championship team will be unveiled and eventually hung at RMU Island Sports Center.

“It’s the first thing the girls asked about when they won,” Wright said. “The team that won 12 years ago has their banner hanging in the rink, and I’m sure the girls were sick of walking in every day and seeing it.

“It’s such an incredible accomplishment and should be a reminder of the legacy of what you can achieve. We can put our names in the history books now. We’re excited for the girls to have that tangible piece of recognition of their hard work for years to come.”