She entered her first competition, the Hershey Open, in 1993 and was commuting to larger cities and coaching options by sixth grade.[1] In 1994, she won the gold medal at the Keystone Winter Games in the Beginner Freestyle Skating division.[2] During this time period, she practiced as a part of the Lancaster Figure Skating Club under coach Ray Laub, placing ninth out of 90 in the 1996 South Atlantic Regionals.[3] She was aware, however, that she couldn't compete at the singles level in the Olympics and so began looking for a partner to do pair skating.[1] Even while she was attending a private school, Lancaster County Day School, she was commuting to the University of Delaware to work with coach Tracey Cahill Poletis.