By Kris Leonhardt

STEVENS POINT – A team of Portage County middle school students took home the gold medal in team figure skating competition at Badger State Games.

The Badger State Games marked 32 years of Wisconsin “Olympic-style” competition, with gold, silver, and bronze medalists from Wisconsin advancing to the State Games of America, being held in Iowa in 2022.Organizers said over 300 Wisconsin figure skaters competed at the Mosinee Recreation Center in Badger State events, held Jan. 28-31.

Genevieve Heese, 14, and Anneliese Heese, 12, who are both homeschooled; and Rosslyn Deppe, 13, and Jordan Roth, 13, both seventh graders at Ben Franklin Junior High, competed with “Get Your Cape On.”

“The girls performed this routine, ‘Get Your Cape On,’ as a specialty group performance in the Stevens Point ice show in April 2019. They began working in December 2020 to revise the routine for Badger State Games. Thankfully their superhero costumes still fit,” said Elizabeth Heese.

“The Mini Production Showcase Ensemble was an open age competition. No restrictions.”

Genevieve and Anneliese have been skating since the age of three, while Rosslyn began at four and Jordan at five.

With the win, the group can now advance to the State Games of America, but Elizabeth said that is unlikely.

“With COVID restrictions, this will likely be the only competition these girls are able to participate in this winter,” she said.

But Anneliese said the gold medal win was enough, “It was so much fun to be able to be able to learn and practice the routine with my friends and very rewarding to win gold together as (a) group.”