Samantha Wells, the skating director of the Wichita Ice Center, said the energy and excitement ahead of the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships and the ensuing National Development Camp was like nothing she had ever seen in her 25-plus years at the skating facility. 

“It was a big thing for Wichita. We’ve been working on this since March, getting it ready and getting our facility ready,” Wells said. “We were really looking forward to it and excited about the whole thing.”

The Prevagen Championships and training camp, hosted last week, went off without a hitch — more than 150 “hand-selected individuals, elite athletes or elite up-and-coming athletes,” according to Wells, participated in the U.S. Figure Skating-sponsored event.

The excitement quickly drew to an end when, on Jan. 29, an American Airlines plane carrying more than 20 of the development camp’s figure skaters, their parents, and coaches collided with an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Officials say there are no survivors.

Prevagen Championships:

Coordinated by Visit Wichita, Sedgwick County and Wichita’s designated marketing organization, and U.S. Figure Skating, the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a “crucial factor” in determining Team USA qualifiers for the upcoming World Championships.

Susie Santo, Visit Wichita CEO, said that they worked on the event for 10 months. 

“There was a lot of effort and planning to go into the event, and I’m extremely proud (of how it turned out),” Santo said. “Wichita has a lot to be proud of and so it’s wonderful to celebrate (the city through) the event.” 

More than 180 athletes traveled to Wichita for the skating showcase and competitions. Skaters from across the country participated in the event’s junior, pairs, men and women categories hosted from Jan. 20-26. 

According to the Kansas City Star, 28 people who attended the Championships with ties to ice skating and coaching — including 11 skaters who attended the development camp — were aboard Flight 5342.

“We felt like U.S. Figure Skating (group) was an extension of our family,” Santo said. “It’s just been devastating to the figure skating community and to all those that lost loved ones on the plane.” 

Development camp

Wells said she had the opportunity to meet many of the youth skaters, their families and coaches during the Prevagen Championships.

“I watched them. You know, I went to the championships … and where we were seated was right next to all the camp kids,” Wells said. “And, you know, just watching their faces light up every time a new skater took the ice — it was really fun. And then we got to spend those three days with them (at the development camp) and watch them excel with, you know, all the things, and watch them get excited.”

During the development camp, Wells was in charge of “Squad One” — a group of about 20 ice skating students. She spent three days working with high-performance coaches and attending different classes. Wells said that, as far as she knows, none of the skaters, families or coaches in her squad were involved in the crash. However, her squad did blend some classes with “Squad Two,” which saw numerous casualties in the crash. 

But Wells said she, as well as many of the other coaches and training staff, adopted a caregiver-like role for the kids during the two 14-hour training days and half-day on Wednesday.

“They were kind of our babies for three days,” Wells said. “And we made sure they ate and needed to be where they were supposed to be.”

At the conclusion of the training camp on Wednesday, Wells and the other coaches waved the kids off, excited to see how they would apply their newfound knowledge and training to their future skating careers.

On Thursday morning, Wells woke up to the news of the crash.

“We were all devastated,” Wells said. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking.”

Wells, who fell sick with influenza shortly after the crash, returned to work for the first time since the crash on Friday. She said the attitude of the ice center was drastically different than it was when she left on Wednesday.

“It was just hard. It was just as soon as you walked in, it was silent and it was just a sad aura,” Wells said. “And I mean, (it’s) still kind of that way.” 

The Wichita Figure Skating Club held a memorial vigil and a moment of silence for the plane crash victims on Monday. New signs at the Wichita Ice Center facility with photos of some of the crash victims adorned the rink as affected Wichitans congregated with lit candles.

Over the last few days, Santo and employees of Visit Wichita have been attending local vigils and memorials to help express their support for the community and their heartbroken relatives.

“Right now our focus is just being supportive to the local figure staking club, to the community, and playing whatever role we can to begin the healing process,” Santo said. “Our focus is on those lost loved ones.”

While the skating community will continue mourning for many days and months to come, Wells said they’ll find a way to push past the pain for the benefit of future skaters.

“We’ll never forget this day, that’s for sure,” Wells said. “But … figure skating will move on … we all have to keep going. We’ve got kids that are still here (and) that need us.”