Worcester native Heidi Munger excels on ice and in classroom

It’s certainly difficult to remain a competitive figure skater while attending college fulltime, but Heidi Munger never takes the easy route.

When she was younger, she commuted weekdays from Worcester Academy to Boston, sometimes twice a day, to train.

The 22-year-old Worcester native is about to begin her junior year at Boston University and on July 29 and 30 she won the U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Championships in Aston, Pennsylvania. Munger finished second in the senior ladies short program, first in the free skate and first overall with a total score of 149.84, easily topping runner-up Kristine Levitina of Florida International University.

“It was very special because my grandparents were there,” Munger said of Ursula and Robert Harper, “and for them it meant a lot to see it.”

The previous two years, Munger finished second in the U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Championships, the only figure skating event open solely to full-time college students. Her victory last month earned her a $5,000 college scholarship and her runner-up finishes the previous two years earned her $2,500 each.

She’s also helped BU win the championship in the separate U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Team Championships the past two springs. Figure skating is a club sport at BU.

“I think Heidi’s strengths,” her father Bruce said, “are a combination of passion for the sport, incredible work ethic – four hours a day year round – and extremely coachable with a great attitude.”

Meanwhile in the classroom, Munger majors in pre-med and has earned mostly A’s, including one in organic chemistry. Her lowest grade has been a B-plus in statistics.

When school is in session, she skates for three hours each morning at the Cronin Ice Arena in Revere and attends classes in the afternoon.

“There aren’t a ton of high level skaters,” Munger said, “who are in school fulltime. Some skaters say they go to college, but it’s like taking one or two classes at a time.”

“It’s been a joy to watch Heidi,” said Sarah Arnold, who oversees the collegiate skating programs for U.S. Figure Skating as the athlete development manager, “compete at the U.S. Collegiate Championships the past three years. It’s fun for the athletes to get to meet new friends and compete in a more relaxed environment.”

When Munger took some time off from college a couple of years ago, she served as one of two skating stunt doubles for Margot Robbie in the Hollywood movie, “I, Tonya,” about former skating star Tonya Harding. She also appeared in the movie briefly as a competitor. A coach urged her to apply for the job and she got it. She worked on the movie in Atlanta for four weeks and got to meet Robbie.

“She’s really nice and down to earth and friendly,” Munger said. “It was impressive how well she could skate. I liked the movie, but I’m biased.”

Munger flew out to L.A. for the movie’s premiere.

The 5-foot-7½ Munger wasn’t planning to continue to skate competitively once she entered college, but she’s glad that it worked out.

“I re-found my passion for the sport,” she said, “and I realized that I could do both and wanted to do both so I made it work. I think they help each other. They make you have a very structured schedule.”

Munger also takes part in figure skating competitions not associated with BU. Munger competed in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January for the second time and finished 14th. She placed 15th in 2016. She hopes to qualify for the nationals again in January.

This summer, she trains for three hours and coaches skating for another two or three hours. Earlier in July, she placed fourth in the Glacier Falls Summer Classic in California where reigning U.S. Figure Skating champion Alysa Liu won. Munger was proud of her finish after moving up from 12th in the short program. On Aug. 3-4, she placed fourth in Philadelphia and the following weekend she won the Cranberry Open in Hyannis.

The hard work on the ice and in the classroom is paying off.

—Contact Bill Doyle at william.doyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.