Benton Keeps Skating Just for the Fun of It

Matt O’Donnell rushed to Lori Benton’s dressing room, gushing with good news for his fiancee. She was assured of finishing second overall in this year’s World Professional Figure Skating Championships in Jaca, Spain.

Benton, after finishing fifth in the short program earlier in the competition, assumed that the best she could do was move up to fourth. Her cloudy thoughts held no silver lining.

“I told him, ‘No way, (get it) in English, Matt, please,’ ” Benton said.

“ That was English, Lori,” he said. “You finished second.”

Benton’s silver lining was more than finishing second. She had proven, after a career slowed but not stopped by injuries, that she could compete with some of the world’s best skaters.

Only 4 years ago, Benton, born and raised in San Diego, had been on a training schedule that would have her peaking in time to reach the Winter Olympics.

But something happened on that road. Benton had recurring back problems, brought on in part by her constant repetition of triple jumps.

But Benton didn’t quit. She took a route open to many skaters but taken by few.

“I think everything that happens happens for a reason,” said Benton, 27.

She skated for 4 seasons with professional ice shows, made special appearances in international skating exhibitions, began teaching at the San Diego Figure Skating Club, then boldly re-entered competition when the opportunity arose.

Benton hadn’t laced her skates for competition since finishing third in the 1981 World University Games. Coincidentally, those games were at the same ice rink--Jaca’s Palacio de Hielo--where she capped her comeback on Dec. 6.

Physically, she was prepared. O’Donnell, a decathlete at San Diego State for 3 years, had Benton on a running program, including sprints and hill work, 6 weeks before the competition.

At 5-feet 2-inches, and 113 pounds, “She was in the shape of her life,” O’Donnell said.

Still, it had been a decade since she had competed regularly.

Said Benton: “I was so nervous. I didn’t attack the ice and after the short program I thought to myself, why am I doing this?”

The answer came quickly and quietly. An aura of confidence engulfed Benton.

“At that point,” Benton said, “I wanted the audience to like me. I wanted to do well. I wanted to skate my best.”

Benton’s long program is highlighted by a back flip, done often by male skaters but seldom by women. She nailed it, and in doing so set the tone for the remainder of her routine.

“It really got the audience going,” Benton said. “It’s definitely a scary move. Once you commit to it, you have to do it.”

Benton finished four-tenths of a point behind Julie Bralit of Canada, who skated to a very theatrical “Phantom of the Opera.”

Next year, she hopes to put on a wild show that will have judges and audiences roaring Ole . Benton has a Spanish bullfight in mind.

“I can’t wait,” she said. “I may even bring a bull out on the ice.”

At 7, Benton’s skating passion was fueled by her mother, Darlene, who used to take her to the rink during extended breaks in school.

“I picked it up pretty fast and got hooked,” Benton said.

She was voted most improved skater after her first year in 1969 at a club in Mira Mesa. She later moved to the San Diego Figure Skating Club, where she worked from 1973-78 under Wanda Guntert, who now coaches in North Hollywood.

Benton’s first major competition was the Ladies Novice Nationals in Colorado Springs in 1976. She finished third.

A year later, she was fifth at the Ladies Junior Nationals, the best finish for first-timer in that division.

Benton remembers the support she received from her high school classmates.

But she never needed an audience. She thrived on the skating and the music.

“I’d love to be in the rink alone, and just feel the music and skate, when no one was around. My greatest love is probably music. Without music, there’s no reason for me to skate.”

But the love was soon tested.

During the 1977 season in particular, Benton was feeling wrenching pain in her back, a problem that eventually led to her retirement at age 17, when she was on the brink of a bright career.

“I think she could have made it,” Guntert said. “She’s a very talented, very fluid and beautiful skater. People like what she does. Barring her injury, she would have made it.”

Benton said doctors called her injury a stress fracture in her back, brought on by the constant twisting on triple jumps.

Physicians advised rest. She performed with the pain through the 1978 season, but when it became too great, she decided to retire.

Said Benton: “My decision to quit was based a little bit on pain, a little bit on frustration, because I kept falling on my harder jumps.”

Benton enrolled at SDSU and skated purely for fun.

“I really missed it,” she said. So in 1981, when someone suggested she compete in the World University Games, Benton jumped at the chance. On 10 days notice, she finished third.

“I used some old music and just kind of threw my routine together,” Benton said.

Benton knew she wanted to return to skating, but couldn’t do it under the conditions that elite competitive skating required.

So she auditioned for Holiday On Ice and spent 2 1/2 years skating in Europe. An ice show didn’t demand the jumps that caused her so many problems in competition.

“In skating you know you can probably go to a show after (you’re through competing,)” Benton said.

Benton’s family, with a strong athletic background, provided a strong supporting cast throughout her career.

Her father, Carl, was an assistant coach in basketball (21 years) and football (1948-58) at SDSU.

Her mother was a national baton twirling champion and a majorette at SDSU. In fact, a 1947 photo of her is the basis of the famous and recently refurbished neon sign at the Aztec Theater.

Sister Kelli Hall, 35, won the Junior World 11-12s division golf title in 1968.

Benton has been teaching skating for the San Diego Figure Skating Club for 2 1/2 years, since she left the Ice Capades in May 1986.

While Benton’s focus is choreography for the top competitors, she enjoys teaching the younger skaters.

“I love working with the babies,” she said. “I want skating to be an enjoyable experience for them. Even if they don’t make it, I want them to learn from the discipline, the training, the competition of skating, and learning that if we fail, we have to get back up and carry on.”