Newtown High School sophomore Marie Randle worked for more than a year on her figure skating performance -- from choreography to costumes to picking out her music ("Come Dance With Me" by Frank Sinatra and "Under the Boardwalk" by the Drifters.)
On Saturday, her hard work paid off. Randle took home a gold medal in freestyle and a bronze in showcase events at the Nutmeg State Games at the Newington Arena in Newington, CT.
"It's really a tremendous amount of work, and she's an amazing young lady," said her mother, Donna Monteleone Randle. "She puts all of herself into everything she does. I'm very proud of her."
Randle is a member of the Laurel Ridge Skate Club and skates under the tutelage of coach Paloma Moore. Her true love is veterinary science, her mother said -- Marie volunteers at the Mt. Pleasant Hospital for Animals and Rowanwood Farm, specializing in llamas and goats.
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