12:42 p.m., Oct. 14, 2008----Shaun Rogers of the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club finished second in the senior men's competition at the 2008 Finlandia Trophy held Oct. 9-12 at the Valtti Arena in Vantaa, Finland.

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Rogers was third after the short program and had a strong free skate to finish second with 201.14 points. Takahito Mura of Japan won the event with 208.24 points and Sergei Voronov of Russia finished third with 200.52 points.

Rogers trains at the UD Ice Skating Science Development Center and is coached by Pam Gregory.

Also, Jazmyn Manzouri, a junior in UD's College of Health Sciences, won the senior ladies competition at the New England Regional Championships held Oct 2-5 in Kingston, Mass. Representing the Yarmouth Ice Club, Manzouri took first in both the short program and free skate for 103.49 points.

The 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.

Article by Neil Thomas