(8/15/12) 2012 U.S. Collegiate Championships to be Held This Week in South Dennis, Mass.

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2012 U.S. Collegiate Championships to be Held This Week in South Dennis, Mass.

(8/15/12) - The 2012 U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Championships, hosted by the Yarmouth Ice Club, will be held Aug. 15-18, in South Dennis, Mass. Fifty-five athletes will compete for titles in junior and senior ladies and men's.

Headlining the senior ladies event will be 2011 U.S. Collegiate champion Alicia Hsu (Belmont University). Challenging Hsu will be Becky Bereswill (University of Michigan). New to collegiate competition, Bereswill placed 10th in pairs with former partner Trevor Young at the 2011 U.S. Championships, and competed in the ladies event at the 2010 U.S. Championships where she placed 13th.

In the men's event, Jonathan Cassar (Oakland University), who finished in 11th at the 2012 U.S. Championships, will feature. He is a silver medalist in this event from the 2008 U.S. Collegiate Championships.

Leading the junior ladies event will be Caroline Knoop (Dartmouth College) and Connie Przeslawski (Penn State University). The two faced off at last year's championships with Knoop earning silver and Przeslawski placing fourth.

Hoping to capture the junior men's title is Matej Silecky (University of California at Berkeley), who will make his collegiate debut. Last season, Silecky's silver medal-winning performance at the 2012 North Atlantic Regional Championships earned him a spot at the 2012 Eastern Sectional Championships, where he finished sixth in junior men's.

The U.S. Collegiate Championships are held every summer and is the only figure skating event in the country open solely to high-level, full-time college students. To qualify, a skater must be a current U.S. Figure Skating member and 1.) a high school graduate who is enrolled full time in a college or university degree program, 2.) a recent graduate of an accredited institution or 3.) entering a college or university as a first-year student for the upcoming semester.

Past winners of the event include U.S. champions Alissa Czisny and Ryan Bradley.