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Sports

Shepard students lead Team USA to fifth place finish

In synchronized skating for Teams Elite.

Shepard High School senior Jenna Bader and junior Gia Swanson helped lead Teams Elite to a fifth place finish in synchronized skating at the French Cup in Rouen, France this weekend.

Teams Elite represented Team USA at this competition.

In seventh after the short program on Friday, Teams Elite delivered an excellent performance in the long program, the more important of the two, to improve their final placement.

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"Pretty good considering we are going against the Russian team that wins worlds almost every year and then we have the top two Canadian and Finnish teams here too," said proud mom Debbie Swanson, the mom of Gia.

"It’s been some steep competition at this one but a great experience and such an honor to compete alongside such accomplished teams. Their team is only in their second year of being at this level," said Swanson, who teaches at Richards High School.

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