LILLY COMPOSTO

Lilly C Lacing up her skates from Eden Prairie to Switzerland

BY KATHERINE KREGNESS In Rink Two of the Eden Prairie Community Center, voices echo louder when they bounce off of the plexiglass walls, competing with the sound of bades on ice. Lilly Composto, a senior at EPHS and passionate figure skater, is bent over her locker in the Club Room. It’s her teammate’s birthdays today, and when she opens the door, everyone cheers. This is why Composto skates. These have been her friends for most of her life. The community she finds here is unlike any other.

Composto started her figure skating career at 7 years old and hasn’t stepped off of the ice since. She skates for the Eden Prairie Figure Skating Club as well as the Northernettes junior synchro team. She skates about four programs a year. She has worked with her synchro skating team since 2016, and started synchro skating in 2012. “We practice three times a week for two and a half hours each,” said Composto. The sense of community that their team has built is more than worth the time and effort.

This year, all of their team’s hard work has paid off. In October, they qualified to skate for Team USA. They hit a certain score with their programs which qualified them to “represent the United States overseas in competitions.” Later this year, they will travel to Switzerland for a competition against teams from other countries.

Synchro refers to synchronized skating, where a team of 16 skaters works together to skate a program – a short choreographed show. They skate one long program which lasts 4 minutes and one short program which lasts 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

Composto’s current programs are both Beatles songs: Elanor Rigby and Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight. In competition, each program is judged for the technical execution as well as the program score.

Qualifying for Team USA is a huge deal