Living Out Their Champion Standard

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Part of the vision statement for Miami Synchronized Skating is to 'develop student-athletes who are champions on the ice and off.'

The idea of being champions on the ice might seem obvious to anyone with even a casual awareness of one of the sport's flagship programs over the past three decades.

After all, Miami's collegiate team just won its 23rd all-time national championship and its fourth in a row. The senior team claimed a silver medal at the 2025 U.S. National Championships and has represented the United States at worlds 14 different times, including the highest-ever finish by an American team (second place in 2007). There's clearly been no shortage of on-ice success down through the years.

But what does it look like for the RedHawk skaters to be champions away from the rink?

For many of these Miami student-athletes, that means being involved in service organizations or local volunteer projects to give back to the community in and around Oxford. It means investing and sacrificing their free time even when they don't have much to spare (between practice, cardio, weight training, dance studio sessions, off-ice work, film study, individual practice, and —of course—classes and homework).

It means making an effort to make a difference.

"One of our biggest lessons we teach them is: 'How you do anything is how you do everything,' said assistant coach Sammie Levine. "That's exactly how they show up as community members and in their classroom.

"They're excellent athletes and they care about bringing that same energy into the other domains in their lives."

The sense of community service that permeates the RedHawks' program isn't a result of any sort of mandatory requirement, but instead, a reflection of the type of student-athletes that make up the Miami teams.

"They have so much joy and happiness in their lives…they spread this really good energy, and [serving others] is just really important to them," said head coach Katey Nyquist. "I'm just unbelievably proud of the people that they are, more than anything else."

Sometimes, that means a skater finding a cause that they are personally passionate about. Eleanor Ashdown, a junior on the Miami senior team, got involved with the university's chapter of the American Cancer Society after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago.

"I felt very disconnected and kind of guilty for not being at home with [my mom], and I wanted to find a way to redirect my sadness and disappointment in the situation towards a good cause…I started going to meetings, and it was a really good way for me to redirect my energy and find a little community (outside of my team and my sorority) with people who had a similar passion as I do," said Ashdown, who now serves as the chapter's co-president. "I also learned a lot about cancer from that club in a really uplifting sort of way, because it was coming from other college students…

"It's been really fulfilling."

Miami senior team — *Miami's 2025-26 senior team*

Ashdown's responsibilities include helping schedule meetings and communicate details with the university, planning the group's annual Relay for Life fundraiser and coordinating projects such as making blankets or collecting pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.

"I feel really passionate and I care so deeply about our purpose that it never feels inconvenient to me," she explained. "I know that I'm doing good and I know how much our events affect people in a positive way, just by giving them a sense of community and purpose on campus –especially if you have family at home battling cancer, or they're survivors, or you have loved ones who have passed.

"It really does have a positive impact on people."

Ashdown also has been involved in community service through Miami Athletics' Champions 4 Life program, helping do everything from raking leaves for the elderly to participating in elementary school recess, but she's hardly the only Miami skater to divide her valuable free time between multiple service projects or organizations.

Lily Lerman, a senior on the collegiate team, does philanthropy work with Cincinnati Children's Hospital through her medical fraternity (Phi Delta Epsilon), volunteers weekly at the emergency department of Kettering Health in Hamilton, helps with projects through Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services, and somehow still found enough time to co-found (along with former teammate Caroline Yaeger) the local chapter of Morgan's Message, a national nonprofit organization to bring awareness to student-athletes' mental health.

"Whenever I go and volunteer, I feel like I'm making a difference and helping out," Lerman said. "I always like to get perspective, because I am in such a fortunate position coming to Miami; I just want to be able to help in any way I can because I am so able-bodied and fortunate…

Miami 2025-26 collegiate skating team — *Miami's 2025-26 collegiate team*

"Oxford is such a special place, and they're giving me so many opportunities and the skating team is giving me so many opportunities, the least I can do is give back as much as I can…it's fulfilling to me, and I just want to be able to give back what I've been given."

While it's hard to compare the emotions of winning a national title (something Lerman's done three times already) and the feeling of serving someone who needs help, Lerman said there are certainly similarities between the two. "I don't know exactly the impact I'm making on these people…but there's definitely a feeling of joy and accomplishment," she commented.

One of the main ways many RedHawk skaters give back to their community is by teaching the next generation of up-and-coming skaters and passing on their knowledge to children and teens at Goggin Ice Center, often through individual lessons or learn-to-skate classes. Katelyn Runkle, a sophomore on the Miami senior team, is currently working with Isabelle Beaver to coach a youth synchronized skating team at the rink (when she's not volunteering with MetroParks, packing meals at a local church, or joining forces with other RedHawks to visit an elementary school recess, that is!).

"This is my first year coaching that team, and it's been so fun," Runkle smiled. "They're all in second or third grade, which is roughly the time I started synchro, so it's fun to watch them getting started with it…

"We want to be able to give back in the same way our coaches invested into us when we were that age, so that's one of the ways I've felt the most fulfilled…with the age group I have, it's just establishing that love for skating and that passion and also working on those little fundamentals they can build on later in their skating careers."

Runkle is more than 500 miles from her hometown of Hillsborough, N.C., but that hasn't deterred her from pouring into her current community.

"I feel like even though we're just here temporarily [in Oxford], this is our home for the four years that we're here," she added. "We have such a good opportunity to make an impact here while we're living here, so I think it's really cool to give back whenever it's possible into this community."

"For the entire skating community, the work that they're doing and the people they train to be is a statement of how skating really is an instrument," said Levine, who was also involved in community service during her time as a skater at Miami before joining the program's coaching staff in 2024.

"Skating is a tool and a vessel to become the kind of person that you want to be…it's shown all over in our alumni base and the legacy of excellence that exists…

"People leave this program and go on to do incredible things and continue to have that priority on their community because of using skating as that instrument."

The Miami coaches see an obvious overlap between the skills that a tightly-choreographed unison sport such as synchro requires (from time management to a sense of team mentality and empathy) and what helps their student-athletes excel as volunteers in so many different nonprofits and projects.

"It's a reason why they're so successful at all of the extracurricular activities: Synchronized skating demands a level of perfection and unison and planning in advance that they carry with them into their other tasks," Nyquist pointed out. "They're a part of these organizations in leadership roles; they're not just engaging with one as an 'add' to their resume, but they're actually adding value to the program.

"I think that's something that's really ingrained in them through synchro: To be the best at what they do. So they attack every outside thing with that same energy."

"For us, it's about raising the bar every day: Every time we step on the ice together, every time we get the chance to be together," Runkle said when asked to define the program's 'champion standard' blueprint and how it applies to every area of life. "It's holding ourselves to that standard of excellence and always wanting to push ourselves further and be better than we were the time before.

"It's wanting to do the right thing, even when it's sometimes challenging."

"All of my teammates are really loving, caring people…and we're very connected because of the nature of our physical activity, but also emotionally, we're doing difficult things," Ashdown said. "I think we've learned how to connect with each other and sense how people are feeling.

"That community really lends itself to emotional vulnerability and having strong reflection skills. With all of those things together, when you get people who are athletically and academically really proficient or really strong in both of those areas, you're going to also have people who care about their community and join clubs that they care about.

"It's a circular thing."

Find more Front Row Features at: MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures

The Miami University synchronized skating teams will perform during intermission at the Miami Hockey game this Friday, Oct. 31 at 7:05 p.m. Discounted tickets are available here. The RedHawks' senior and collegiate teams will also hold their season-opening exhibition at Steve "Coach" Cady Arena on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. That event is free and open to the public.

Players Mentioned

Eleanor Ashdown

Isabelle Beaver

Lily Lerman

Katelyn Runkle

Caroline Yaeger

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