Rochester woman's rekindled love for figure skating leads to U.S. championship

Apr. 26—ROCHESTER — The original draw for Orca Sauer were those outfits.

That was 25 years ago, when Sauer was 10 and living with her parents in Hong Kong. She had attended an ice skating show and loved what she saw. Those females were decked out.

"Just watching that competition and seeing those cute, glittery dresses, it got me interested in skating right away," Sauer said.

Now, at 35 and having lived in Rochester the past 18 years, Sauer is still interested in skating. And her name is out there among some of the top adult figure skaters in the country.

This past April 2-6 in Cleveland, Sauer competed in and won the silver level U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships. That came after winning the U.S. Midwestern Adult Figure Skating Championships silver level title in March in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Sauer, who practices at Rochester Recreation Center, has a message for all adults as she lives out her recreational sports dreams and desires: It's never too late to throw yourself into it. She's still happily diving into hers all while being a married 35-year-old mother of 4-year-old twin boys and a full-time employee at Mayo Clinic as a Senior Project Manager.

Sauer points to an even older athlete who she has come across in the adult skating scene.

That is Cindy Crouse, a 65-year-old gem of a skater

who recently finished second in the Gold Level. Sauer notes that Crouse got restarted in figure skating at age 35. So, no, it's never too late. That is Sauer's message.

"I not only want to share how proud I am to represent Rochester and become the 2024 Midwest and national champion at the adult figure skating event," Sauer said, "but I also want to spread the message to other adults out there: Don't stop doing things we love just because we have a busy life with jobs and families. As an adult, we do things because we love it, not because we have to. We all have dreams. With setting goals for them, we can make dreams come true."

Sauer was born Orca Kwong, an only child to Lily and Kenny Kwong.

When she was 17, she made a change. It would turn out to be a permanent one. Sauer took advantage of Hong Kong's international school exchange program, spending her senior year of high school at Rochester Mayo, staying with host family Laurie and Craig Kellagher.

"They were great," Sauer said. "They treated me like their own kids. They were really welcoming. It was a fun experience for me and for them. I really got to learn the culture here, to immerse myself in it."

Sauer's embrace of that senior year at Mayo was all the sweeter thanks to a personality profile the Hong Kong exchange program had sent to Mayo High School before she departed. It made note that Sauer was a competitive figure skater and a skating award winner in her home country.

That was precisely what set her up with the Kellaghers, a family also invested in figure skating. The Kellaghers, often with Sauer and their daughter in tow, made ample trips to the Rochester Recreation Center during her stay.

After Sauer's year at Mayo High School, she made a move to become more of a permanent resident of the United States. Instead of heading back to Hong Kong, she stayed for college, attending the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry.

Once that was done, marriage followed at the age of 27, then kids came four years later. But skating didn't immediately resume. From the age of 18 until 30, Sauer put her skates and glittery dresses away. It took a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan, this past November for a bachelorette party to renew her desire to glide on the ice. It turned out there was a skating competition that weekend in Ann Arbor, the Ann Arbor Adult Open.

The only skating competitions that Sauer had been familiar with before were for kids and young adults. But here she was, with three close women friends — Elizabeth Thornton, Amber Bridgeman and Molissa Hager — all in their 30s and 40s and all signed up to compete.

It went well for Sauer, who hadn't skated in four years. She won the competition.

That set forward a rekindled desire to get on the ice going forward and to stay on it.

"It boosted my confidence that I can still really do this," Sauer said.

She's been doing it in earnest ever since. Sauer has become a member of the Rochester Figure Skating Club, working on her craft four mornings and one evening per week, friends joining for that night-time skate. She has also taken up off-ice workouts, getting herself in the best possible shape with daily exercises. That was brought on partly due to family heart history, her father having suffered from strokes.

All of it led to what happened in the most recent regional and then national competition, Sauer celebrating on the top podium step in each.

She's a national champion. But more than that, she has rekindled a part of her that gives her life and joy. It wasn't too late to find that happy source again — a sheet of ice.

"I do love it," she said. "I love the sport and I love skating. It just helps me forget about other things and just be in the moment and be myself."