2:47 p.m., Jan. 26, 2009----The U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held Jan. 18-25 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club placed four teams in the top ten in the junior dance category.

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Isabella Cannuscio and Ian Lorello finished fifth, Sara Bailey and Kyle Herring finished seventh, Chloe Wolf and Rhys Ainsworth finished eighth, and Anastasia Cannuscio of the UDFSC and partner Colin McManus of the Skating Club of Boston finished tenth.

In other action, UDFSC's Shaun Rogers finished 12th in the senior men's competition and the senior dance team of Alexander Lorello and partner Lauren Corry of the Washington Figure Skating Club also finished 12th.

In the junior pairs competition, Erika Smith and Nathan Bartholomay finished in 11th place and Rachel DeRita and Brandon Accardi finished in 12th.

Viviana Mathis of the UDFSC finished 10th in the novice ladies competition and Meredith Pipkin and partner Brett Neustadt of the Washington Figure Skating Club finished eighth in novice pairs

The University of Delaware Ice Skating Science Development Center is one of the world's leading training sites, a year-around facility designed to meet the needs of first-time competitors and champions alike. The ISSDC, which is housed in state-of-the-art facilities on the UD campus in Newark, Del., provides the most complete training environment in the country.

Skaters have access to two ice surfaces, at the Fred Rust Ice Arena and the Gold Ice Arena, as well as strength and aerobic training rooms and a dance studio. Coaching is available from the finest national and international coaches in the sport of figure skating. Their concentrations include figures, freestyle, pairs, dance and stroking.

Furthermore, UD faculty work closely with the World and Olympic coaches in the program to advance the body of knowledge in figure skating, with research areas in sports medicine, exercise physiology, biomechanics and sports psychology. Through cooperative efforts, they provide students with the most up-to-date training programs available.

Ron Ludington is the director of the Ice Skating Science Development Center. He is a World and Olympic figure skating coach who has worked with numerous Olympians and national and international medalists. He is a member of the Ice Skating Hall of Fame, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, Professional Skating Hall of Fame, Ice Skating Institute Hall of Fame and the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.

Many figure skating champions have trained at UD's ISSDC, most recently Kimmie Meissner, a national and world champion.