By Michael Letendre
Once again, the ShopRite State Nutmeg Games have rolled around and that means a trio of sisters from Bristol are in action on the ice.
Carol, Jennifer, and Jilleen Sugrue – sisters from Bristol – took the Newington Arena rink by storm this past Saturday at the 2022 games – representing the Mum City with some simply incredible performances in the ice skating competition.
And all three sisters are successful student athletes.
Like she does on the ice, Carol is tearing it up in the classroom at the University of Hartford – majoring in Prosthetics and Orthotics, a specialty at UHART.
She’ll graduate as a member of the Class of 2025.
Jenny will be a senior at Bristol Central this year while youngest sister, Jilleen, is in sixth grade, attending St. Joe’s in Bristol.
She played for the Gators minors’ team for Bristol Girls Little League Softball this year.
And of course, all three sisters are skating phenoms.
The trio competed at different skating levels from the Nutmeg Games and according to their father John, they have all enjoyed a very successful skating season in 2022.
A very proud father also enjoys watching his daughters compete in the sport – especially during the summer months which means more time indoors and away from the hot sun.
“That Newington Arena is a nice place to cool off and spectate,” said John Surge.
Serious competition
The ice skating portion of the Nutmeg State Games is sponsored by the Finer Edge Figure Skating Club – the program the Sugrue sisters performs with.
The competitors were judged using the IJS System, a method of scoring that’s based on cumulative points rather than the 6.0 standard scoring system.
According to the Nutmeg State Games website, “Well-balanced juvenile through senior events will be judged using the IJS System. All other events will be judged under the 6.0 Majority Judging System. There will not be final rounds for any events.”
Judges were scoring on the qualities of each performance and the Sugrue crew showed plenty of ability, effort and heart on the ice.
Saturday ended up being extremely busy for the hardworking sisters as the competition began for the athletes.
And Carol and Jennifer each won one event.
Carol came through with the win in the Junior Women FS (Free Skate) as her score of 65.14 was the winning mark in the field.
In the 11 Junior Women SP (Short Program), Carol nabbed third place with an overall score of 33.70.
A gold and a bronze were an impressive haul.
In the 10 Novice Women SP, Jennifer won the event with a score of 27.58.
She also scored second place in the 26 Novice Women FS, squaring away a score of 47.66.
A gold and a silver medal proved Jennifer was one of the top skaters in Newington that day.
And Jilleen captured fifth place in the 130 Basic 6 Girls program as the Sugrue sisters continue to dominate the ice over a very tough sport.
