The speedskating team finished up their season at the American Cup Final in Green Bay, Wis. the weekend of March 16 through 18.

The team walked away from the meet with several first-place finishes.

Assistant coach Dan Fiorenza said the season was an overall success; the team made great strides in their skating and it was a wholesome season overall.

“It was good, the whole team made a lot of improvements, almost all the guys broke all their personal bests in lap times,” Fiorenza said. “Almost everyone did their best; times came down tremendously this season.”

Junior Kimberly Derrick placed first in the women’s 1500-meter Superfinal A final (2:27.594), the 500-meter A final (48.754) and the 1000-meter A final (1:41.028).

Sophomore Sarah Burg took third place in the 1500-meter Superfinal A final (2:28.012), second place in the 500-meter B final (50.999), and first place in the 1000-meter C final (1:45.461).

Sophomore Alaina Fiorenza took second place in the 1500-meter Superfinal B final (2:49.058), fourth in the 500-meter B final (51.357) and fifth in the 1000-meter A final (1:45.373).

Freshman Lauren Ziegelmayer placed fourth in the 1500-meter Superfinal B final (2:50.558), third in the 500-meter C final (52.260), and fourth in the 1000-meter C final (1:47.593).

Senior Kelsey Schiel finished in fifth place in the 1500-meter Superfinal B final (2:52.882), third place in the 500-meter B final (51.212), and second in the 1000-meter B final (1:54.590).

For the men, freshman Brett Perry took fifth place in the men’s 1500 Superfinal A final (2:26.435) and senior Barry Winslow finished second in the B final (2:36.096).

In the men’s 500-meter A final, junior Chris Creveling took fourth place with a time of 44.880, Winslow took fourth in the B final (1:17.649) and Brett Perry took second place in the C final with a time of 45.905.

Creveling took fourth place in the 1000 A final (2:00.455), Winslow took third place in the B final (1:35.9590) and Perry finished in first place in the C final (1:37.393).

Alaina Fiorenza said she thought the team did very well this season. The team has been training since mid-May, and has been working hard on skating along with schoolwork.

“I think that our placements at competitions shows just how hard we worked this season,” Fiorenza said. “That’s one of the best feelings you can get as an athlete, to know that you gave everything you had and to have a great competition or race that makes it all worth it.”

As far as her own personal performance goes this season, Fiorenza said she is fairly satisfied with the outcome.

“Sometimes you have races that just don’t go well or you get tough breaks but I definitely had many performances that I am pleased with this season,” Fiorenza said.

At the Junior Trials, Perry took sixth place, and at Senior Trials, Alana Fiorenza, Burg, Derrick and Schiel all made the cut. Derrick also made the Junior World Team and won the American Cup Final.

Dan Fiorenza said the team should feel really good about their performances.

“They skated great this season, a lot of them learned a lot and continued to get better,” Fiorenza said. “They trained really hard this summer and it showed through the season.”

Although the next Winter Olympics will not take place until 2014, Fiorenza says he believes the majority of the team has the potential to make the trial rounds.

“I am almost positive that the whole team could make it to the trials but it is uncertain who will make the cut,” Fiorenza said.

Fiorenza said Creveling, Winslow, Perry and sophomore Jordan Malone will all be at the trials and should make the cut off for the top 16.

“Jordan made the past Olympics, and he has a pretty good shot for the next along with all the guys,” Fiorenza said. “Kimberly will have a really good shot as well, she was in the 2010 Olympics, and she made the World Cup. Jordan made all of the world cups this year.”