Boston University Goes for Record-Breaking Seventh Win At 2023 National Intercollegiate Final

March Madness has concluded, but college sports aren't done quite yet for the season. Intercollegiate skating has yet to crown their champ, and the Boston University Figure Skating Team will be chasing the gold rush in California when they face off against the country's top collegiate teams in Anaheim at the 2023 National Intercollegiate Final from April 13-16.
 
Boston University, which has won the last four titles, is currently in a three-way tie with Dartmouth College and University of Delaware with six championships apiece. Should the BU Terriers win gold, they will surpass their peers and become the winningest team in U.S. Figure Skating collegiate history with a record-breaking seventh win.
 
"It's so surreal because we don't even talk about winning within our team very much," said graduating senior Emily Feng, 21. "It's just crazy to me when I get reminded by this fact that after this Nationals we [could] be the team with the most titles. This is what our whole program has been working for."
 
Boston University is currently on a winning streak. They have taken the top spot at all of their competitions so far this season in the Northeastern Collegiate Conference at meets hosted by New York University (NYU), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Skating Club of Utica in Upstate New York.
 
Due to the pandemic, the final was not held in 2020 and 2021. The team won their first two titles in 2009 and 2010 before going for four straight in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
 
Established in 1974, BU's team's history pre-dates intercollegiate competition. The very first National Intercollegiate Final was held in 2000.
 
The team's two dedicated coaches, Andrea Mohns-Brillaud and Andrew Miller Korda, both hold degrees from Boston University and were part of the collegiate team when they were enrolled as students.
 
"To see their passion for intercollegiate skating every day is just amazing," Feng gushed. "They go above and beyond for us. Our experience would be way different if both of them were not the coaches of our team. We think of them as a second set of parents. They would drop anything for us, so we're really grateful to them."
 
Feng, along with her teammate and co-president Grace Knoop, 22, used to compete at the junior level, but have since had to give up jumping due to injuries. They've discovered a new love for solo dance and have enjoyed learning patterns from Korda. At the National Intercollegiate Final, they'll be doing the fiesta tango. Knoop will also compete a footwork sequence in the high team maneuvers event for BU.
 
Beyond coaching, the girls also rely on Korda for their costumes.
 
"Andrew has his big bucket of costumes," Knoop said. "It's like Christmas when you're choosing a dress from that bucket. I have a blue one I wore for one of the competitions, so I'm excited to wear that. If it weren't for Andrew, we'd all be in the worst skating dresses in the world. Because of him, we're the most well-dressed team."
 
Feng selected a red dress with lots of rhinestones. She's been wearing it for cha-chas and tangos and considers it a "lucky dress."
 
The night before the competition, the team has a tradition to give everyone a confidence boost. At dinner, each skater is assigned a teammate and is given a paper plate to decorate and come up with a fun award for them, such as "grooviest diva."
 
It is this camaraderie that attracted Sarasota resident Knoop to transfer from University of South Florida in Tampa and join BU's team. Knoop was a pairs skater, so she knew she wanted a "team environment" and to have others to lean on. She found singles skating too lonely.
 
Her older sister was a member of Dartmouth's collegiate team and encouraged her to pursue collegiate skating. To this day, she and her sister have a fun sibling rivalry. Her big sis still roots for her alma mater and sends Knoop sarcastic texts the morning of competitions that read, "Good luck to Dartmouth. You know I'm watching, but I'm not rooting for you, but I hope you do well, but I hope Dartmouth wins."
 
BU's competitive team requires skaters to attend at least four practice sessions per week. Walter Brown Arena is conveniently located on campus steps away from some of the dorms. The club sports department is very supportive of the team, providing them with almost six hours of ice time daily, two coaches, transportation and travel expenses. The team does do some fundraising to contribute.
 
After graduation next month, Knoop will remain at BU to continue on to graduate school. She's been accepted into the master's program in media science.
 
"I'm a journalism major now and I wanted to widen my skillset in the media world, especially with social media," she said.
 
Feng, a biology major from Houston, already has a clinical research job lined up in San Francisco. She spent some of her childhood in San Francisco and her family currently lives in Orange County, California, which is where the National Intercollegiate Final will be held.
 
Winning the event would be a bittersweet way for Knoop and Feng to end their undergraduate experiences and move on to their next chapters on opposite coasts. Feng is very appreciative of the support she has received from coaches and teammates. The focus on team rather than individual results has been a stark difference from her singles skating career.
 
"No one looks at their individual placements really because it's our team result that everyone really cares about," Feng said. "It's been really amazing to go from individual skating to having a community."