News
November 21, 2007
Hacker emerges the victor in a packed senior field
As a week of fabulous skating drew to a close in Wake Forest, North Carolina, it was the senior women's and men's events that were the most anticipated and feared by SCOB members. The senior ladies event featured a packed roster of athletes, ten of whom had either advanced to U.S. Nationals as seniors in a previous year or already represented the U.S successfully in international competition. From this group, five represent SCOB and only four from the pool could earn the trip to St. Paul.
New SCOB member Kristina Hacker emerged early as the one to beat as she posted a two-point lead in the short program. Her gentle "Love Story" performance was packed with well-executed difficulty, including a triple toe-double toe, triple loop, and double Axel. Her other elements received high degrees of difficulty and positive GOE marks, including level 4 for her layback, deathdrop, spirals and sit-change-sit, earning a final score of 53.08.
In the free skate, 17-year old Hacker heeded coaches Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson's directive and "skated with passion." She opened her program, set to Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, with a difficult set of jumping passes, including a triple toe-double toe-double loop, a triple Salchow-double loop, triple loop, and triple toe, most of which received positive GOE marks. Her remaining jumps were reserved until the second half of the program to capture maximum points, while three of her four spins received level 4s. With a free skate score of 103.78, Hacker's total of 156.86 gave her the Eastern senior ladies title with a 19 point margin of victory.
The SCOB senior ladies were a proud display of sportsmanship and grace as each handled the results-whether victorious or not-with dignity, while giving unconditional support to their SCOB teammates. Jessica Houston finished just outside the top 4 with a 128.76 total that placed her fifth. Event favorite Julianna Cannarozzo could not recover from a faulty short program despite rallying for a strong third place finish in the free skate. She finished seventh, with a total score of 128.64. Michelle Boulos delivered two solid rounds of skating to finish eighth with 126.74. Kylie Gleason, who traveled to Easterns expecting to compete, withdrew unexpectedly before the competition due to a hip injury.
In senior men, SCOB members were hopeful for the return of Jason Wong to the national competitive ranks after a prolonged absence due to injury. A couple of stumbles in the short program landed Wong in sixth place with a score of 55.18. He rallied in the free skate to complete six triples, including a huge triple Axel that received all positive GOE marks. He was awarded level 4 for his death drop and combination spin to finish third in the free skate with 113.15, but his total score of 168.33 placed him in fifth overall.
We are proud of the talent and spirit exhibited by all our SCOB senior competitors, each of whom brought something unique to this tough competition. We wish the best to Katrina Hacker, who will be joined at U.S. Nationals by Stephen Carriere and Scott Smith. Carriere and Smith received byes to Nationals as they have been competing on the ISU Grand Prix circuit this fall.
