Last weekend 10 of our UCLA figure skaters travelled up to Berkeley to compete in the Golden Bear Skate 2016. This was the second of the three qualifying competitions and the Bruins were ready to bring their all.

Despite the long drive and late night Chinese food, the Bruins were up and ready for competition on Saturday- with some skaters even braving the 5:15am practice session to make sure everything was perfect in their programs.

The Bruins had a strong start, with sophomore Julia Feng placing 5^th in a big field of ladies in the Senior Short Program. This was followed up by a 4^th place finish for Alexandra Overy in the Intermediate Ladies Short Program and a wonderful gold to Ai Ohno in the Novice Ladies Short Program.

The day was off to a good start and the Bruins continued to build momentum through the ice dance events, with Julia Feng picking up a medal in Intermediate and Ai Ohno and Marisa Goff giving strong showings in the Junior Dance. This was followed by the preliminary free skating events, where Toffy Charupatanapongse gave a beautiful performance to win the bronze medal! This success continued with senior Adrian Siew winning gold in the men's event with a powerful and well executed program.

It was a very busy day and the skaters only had time for a very quick Panera lunch before competition resumed with the Juvenile Ladies FS. Marisa Goff returned to the ice with a very emotional and artistic performance, finishing a strong 7^th place in the large group of skaters. Julia Feng was back on the ice after this, for the third time, and pushed through tiredness to deliver a beautiful performance in the Senior Ladies Free Skate where she placed an impressive 4^th place.

After this, Alexandra Overy was back on the ice for the Intermediate Ladies Free Skate. Despite a freak fall in the warm up, she pulled it back to finish 2^nd place overall. She had no time for a break, as she competed again right after this for the Preliminary Solo Dance, which she managed to place 1^st in. More ice dance and more medals followed, with Marisa Goff placing 3^rd in the Senior Dance event. The final individual event of the day for the Bruins was the Junior Ladies Free Skate, which was won by Ai Ohno with a beautiful program, highlighted by some lovely jumps.

Everyone was quite tired by this point, but they still had the team manoeuvre events to go, so everyone pulled together their last energy to give some great performances. The Low Team, comprised of Marisa, Toffy and Ally, placed third with a strong showing. The Intermediate Team also placed third, with some great jumps and spins by Jillie Campbell, Ai Ohno and Adrian Siew. The last event of the day was High Team, and by then fatigue started to show, but still Julia Feng, Tiana Austel and Carol Lin gave their all to place 6^th overall.

Everyone worked hard, and special mention should be given to Julia Feng and Marisa Goff for both competing in five events! It was also especially nice to have Carol Lin and Tiana Austel competing for us for the first time.

UCLA placed fourth place overall, which puts the Bruins tied for third place in the Pacific Coast Section. The next competition is the final qualifying competition for nationals: the Pioneer Open in Denver, Colorado. The Bruins are all practicing hard to improve on their placement and fight for a spot at nationals.