The Boston University club figure skating team has found itself at the top of the collegiate figure skating scene once again.
BU captured first place at the 2025 National Intercollegiate Final April 11 to 13 at the University of Notre Dame.
Success is nothing new for the Terriers. This year’s title was the team’s eighth, succeeding previous championships in 2009, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
With the victory, the Terriers became the most decorated collegiate figure skating team of the 21st century, beating out the University of Delaware and their seven titles. The Blue Hens finished as the runner-up to the Terriers this year.
“When I realized that we won, we all started jumping because there was only one team left to announce,” freshman skater Keira Grice said. “When they announced our name, we all just screamed. I started crying. It was pretty awesome.”
The team nearly made history in 2024, but fell short.
“Last year we got second place, and I came into this national championship not really knowing if we were going to be able to get first place,” junior skater Grace Soroko said.
The adjustments the Terriers made going into the 2025 season paid off. “Our motto this year was just ‘slow and steady wins the race.’ We did what we had to do, and they did a great job,” head coach Andrea Mohns-Brillaud said.
It was another addition to the extensive resume of Mohns-Brillaud, who has been at the helm of BU figure skating for each of its eight championships. Even for a leader accustomed to figure skating glory, the 2025 season provided a plethora of memorable moments.
“I love to see a [student] that doesn’t make the team freshman year, but perseveres,” Mohns-Brillaud said. “I had a junior this year that made the team who hadn’t skated freshman and sophomore year. I have a senior that got to skate for the first time in nationals this year.”
The longer-tenured members of the team revitalized their efforts with a unique drive to win, too. “In the last event, our senior Phillip Baker blew it out of the park doing his triple flip,” Mohns-Brillaud continued. “He said there was no other option, he had to win. So he did.”
But the Terriers’ successful season wasn’t without its hardships.
Mid-season, tragedy struck the figure skating world as a flight carrying figure skating athletes, coaches and families crashed on its return trip from the National Development Camp in Wichita, Kansas in late January. The crash left no survivors.
Several BU athletes were personally affected. “A lot of our teammates lost people that they knew,” Soroko said. “One of my teammates back home was at the National Development camp, and she lost a lot of friends. It came right before one of our regional competitions, and we had to go out and compete with all of that.”
The team was spurred on, redoubling their efforts to honor the memory of those lost. “It actually pushed us further to continue skating, because at the end of the day they would not want us to stop,” Soroko said.
Further adversity visited the team during the finals.
“We had some injuries. We had some sickness at nationals,” Grice said. “Getting through some of those programs was kind of hard, but they did it, and they did awesome.”
Mohns-Brillaud credited the team’s strong connections and teamwork in getting them through the hard times. “I tell them all the time, what makes me more proud than winning a national championship is the friendships that they have and the bonds they make. When they graduate, they have friends for life,” she said.
“[Being a national champion] is unreal. It is insane,” Soroko said. “The team has worked so hard and we have developed such a strong community. We put it all out there in Indiana. At the end of the day, everyone put out their best.”
The team now waits to see which skaters will be with the team in its effort to repeat as champions next year.
“We have some great kids coming in and some great kids returning,” Mohns-Brillaud said. “Hopefully we’ll be okay for next year. We’ll be starting from scratch and building the team.”