News
January 29, 2008
Medals of all colors for SCOB Novice skaters
SCOB novice skaters peppered the field in St. Paul, sending ten skaters to compete across the men's, ladies', ice dancing, and pairs events--bringing home a gold, a silver and a bronze.
In Novice Men, Ross Miner found the "silver lining" of sitting out for a year. The seventeen-year-old narrowly missed advancement to nationals in the 2007 season, an event that fortified his resolve during this year's competitive season. As the Eastern Sectional champion, Miner was certainly a skater to watch.
Performing his well-known "surfer-dude" program, Miner stood out in his sleek diving suit. Although he put a hand down between jumps on his opening triple Lutz-double toe combination, Miner rebounded with a huge triple flip that earned bonus points for GOE. Judges missed the choreographic irony of the "wipe out" on the footwork sequence, electing instead to give a deduction for what they took to be a fall. In the end, Miner's fourth place finish with 44.85 points left him in striking distance of a medal.
For his Gershwin free skate, Miner played the leading man in one of the most stylish programs of the evening. In all he completed five triples, including a triple flip-triple toe that earned a full 1.00 GOE, and three triples beyond the half-way mark for additional bonus points. His spins and footwork were all awarded levels 3 and 4. With a total score of 90.96, Miner had only to wait while the remaining five competitors completed their efforts. In the end, the strength of Miner's two performances placed him second overall for the silver medal.
In Novice Dance, SCOB fielded three dance teams. Chloe Wolf (representing University of Delaware FSC) and Rhys Ainsworth (representing North Atlantic FSC) were standouts from the first compulsory dance. As the first skaters, their score of 25.54 for the tango proved unbeatable. After a strong 23.98 in the Kilian, the team stood in first place at the end of the compulsory round. Their free dance, set to Les Miserables, earned them a 61.17 for a total of 110.60 to take the gold-a huge step up from their seventh place finish last year.
"All those years together really made a big difference," said Ainsworth. Both Chloe and Rhys are 18 years old and have been skating together for seven years.
For Una Donegan and Andrew Corda this competition was up, up, up. Sitting in fifth place after the tango, the couple took fourth in the Kilian. But their strong free dance was the second best of the event - less than two points behind Wolf and Ainsworth - and landed them in third place overall to claim the bronze medal.
Kate McDermott and Colin McManus were 8th in the tango, 6th in the Kilian, and 6th in the free dance, for a final sixth place finish in their first year at Novice.
Eastern Sectional Champs Marissa Castelli (representing Smithfield FSC) and Simon Shnapir (representing Colonial FSC) were anxious to return to Nationals this year after their ninth place finish in 2007. From the start of their Kill Bill short program it was evident that this team was coming into its own after only a year and a half together. They earned positive GOE on most of their pairs elements, including a throw double axel, axel lift, straight-line step sequence, and a gorgeous backward inside death spiral. Sitting in fourth place, they could feel the call of the podium.
In the long, the pair opened with a level 4 axel lift that earned 2.0 GOE. They followed up with side-by-side double loops, double twist, level four pair combination spin, and backward inside death spiral, all receiving positive GOE. The program was marred only by a fall on a completely rotated throw triple Salchow and a trip by Shnapir on the side-by-side double flip-double toe combination. Their 41.18 technical score was the highest of the event, bringing their segment score to 80.80. A final score of 116.42 landed them in third place overall for the bronze medal-just .57 out of second place.
In Novice Ladies, Gretchen Donlan proved that the new scoring system is truly about quality of skating and not necessarily about pushing big jumps at all costs. In her stunning short program set to Pas de Deux from the Nutcracker, Donlan landed a double axel, double Lutz-double toe, and a double flip. Her spins and spiral sequence were all awarded level 4s with positive GOE for a segment score of 36.12-putting her in third place at the end of the short. Unfortunately Donlan struggled in the free skate with her jumps, canceling out the high values for her spins and spirals and leaving her in seventh place overall.
We are proud of the efforts of all our young skaters who not only qualified for Nationals but also represented our club admirably with their sportsmanship and competitive spirit. Congratulations to all of you!
