Golden West competition in Culver City, CA | Golden Skate

Golden West competition in Culver City, CA

Sylvia

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
Golden West is the All Year Figure Skating Club's annual big club competition in southern California (sort of like the Liberty competition of the west coast) -- it began on Thursday and goes through tomorrow (Sunday). Event schedule and skater roster by level: http://www.allyearfsc.com/events/

Senior Ladies withdrawals that I've heard about so far: Danielle Kahle, Sandy Rucker, Crystal Shum (all in Group B).

Senior Ladies Group A FS results from Friday night:
1. Becky Hughes 72.64 - landed two 2A (one in combo with 2T), 3T, couple of doubles, and had nice fast spins
2. Bebe Liang 69.72 - rough night with 4 falls and a popped lutz, landed 2A and a 3T but nice spirals and spins including a beautiful layback that began and was held in the "classic" position
3. Jessica Martino 68.14
4. Danielle Shepard 65.25
5. Amy Evidente 63.59
6. Joanna Webber (GBR) 63.25
7. Erin Reed
8. Tetona Jackson
9. Stephanie Dal Porto
10. Trina Robinson
11. Kristy Evans
12. Shandra Eastman

Group B: No results yet, but Tenile Victorsen (coached by Angela Nikodinov) appears to have had the best skate of the two groups by far (music was Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto). Jumps reportedly were: 3S, 3T-2T, 3R(fall out), 2A, 3T, 3S-2T, 2A.

Top 6 in each of the Sr. groups advance to the SP & FS. The SP is tonight.

Senior Men' SP took place today -- still waiting for results/news. It's an impressive roster for a club competition: Ryan Bradley, Derrick Delmore, Nicholas LaRoche, Daisuke "Dice" Murakami (has moved up to senior in the U.S.), Braden Overett, Parker Pennington, Dennis Phan, Daniel Steffel, Michael Villarreal, Jordan Wilson. All of these guys have competed previously at U.S. Nationals.

Senior Pairs: I was told that Nam and Leftheris were a major highlight on Friday, skating "a marvelous Spanish-themed [short] program, very dramatic, with beautiful sbs 3 toes and lots of other good stuff. Great speed and power."
N/L's USFS bio lists the "Jealousy" [Jalousie] (tango) as their SP music and "Caravan" as the FS. Tiffany Vise/Derek Trent placed 2nd and the new team of Katie Beriau/Alex Merritt were 3rd in the SP.

Junior ladies qualifying FS took place on Friday and the top 3 scores were: Caroline Zhang (106.72), Mirai Nagasu (93.66) and Victoria Rackohn (83.07). Zhang reportedly landed 2 triple lutzes (one in combo with a 2toe), two triple flips (one in combo), and the rest of the triples in the program. Her impressive spins and spiral sequence most likely received high levels and GOE.
 
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Skye

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 23, 2006
WOW, I just saw the Junior Ladies' results, and Caroline Zhang must have rocked the house. I know you can't exactly compare CoP scores from different events, but her scores (SP+FS combined in 170s) are as high as, if not higher than top senior ladies. Was the caller and judges way too generous, or is it just that Caroline did such a fantastic job? I remember her having problems with under-rotations at the Nationals, and being so tiny and flexible she might have some tough time going through a growth spurt, but it seems like she is just getting better and better.
 

floskate

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
From the clip of her SP that was shared here a few weeks ago, it seems she has gained the strength to make 3 turns cleanly now on her jumps. From all the reports from Golden west, no one mentions a possibility of any underrotations. Plus she has killer spins and spirals which should get at least level 3 with some positive GOE.

Jumpwsie she's racking up the points aswell - from reports of jump details it seems she has 2 combo's after 2:10 and also does two 3z and 3f. I wouldn't be surprised if her PCS were in the 6's either. She really is gorgeous to watch and has some great edges and basics.

I hope she can carry this form onto the JGP - she's in Mexico in a couple of weeks - and make a bit of a splash.
 

Nigel

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
floskate: Fom the clip of her SP that was shared here a few weeks ago, it seems she has gained the strength to make 3 turns cleanly now on her jumps. From all the reports from Golden west, no one mentions a possibility of any underrotations. Plus she has killer spins and spirals which should get at least level 3 with some positive GOE.
Caroline has seemingly made progress on her under-rotated jumps since last year. :clap: Her programs are beautifully choreographed and to her credit, highlight her strengths. But, as we watched the final round, we found that her programs are somewhat the same year to year, and yes, we were probably being a bit overly critical, but we all agreed that her programs are a little bit slow (she still does not cover the ice as well as she should, say relative to some of the other junior ladies) and her music choices have hidden that as well...she and her coaches tend to pick slower, more lyrical music which again, does play to her strengths in some areas, ie., the spiral sequences, but something she is going to have to work on before moving up to seniors. All in all, very nice performances this past weekend.
 

Sylvia

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
Here are the Golden West Senior/Junior "unofficial" results & info that have been passed along to me...

Senior Men's SP (Saturday):
1. Parker Pennington 66.38 (37.69 tech./28.69 PCS) - music is "Prelude" by Jesse Cook
2. Ryan Bradley 60.20 (31.63/28.57)
3. Dennis Phan 56.65 (28.71/27.94) - "Mishima" (last year's music)
4. Michael Villarreal 53.78 (29.06/24.76)
5. Braden Overett 52.53 (26.16/28.37) - "Havana" soundtrack (last year's music)
6. Dice Murakami 51.78 (27.02/25.76)
7. Daniel Steffel 46.65 (21.82/24.83)
WD: Delmore, LaRoche, Jordan Wilson
A few comments passed along to me for posting:
"Pennington did a clean program with triple axel, Phan did 3lutz-3toe as his combination, Overett's program was really great, with excellent footwork and spins, Murakami fell on his triple axel."

Senior Men's FS (Sunday):
1. Parker Pennington 188.43 (122.05 FS) [Techno mix] - landed 3A and other triples
2. Dennis Phan 172.07 (115.42) [Tchaikovsky piano concerto no. 1] - didn't attempt 3A, landed 3Z-2T and other triples, fell on 3loop
3. Ryan Bradley 167.98 (107.78 ) [Latin medley] - attempted 3A three times and popped each time, landed other triples
4. Michael Villarreal 148.29 (94.51) [music?] - landed 3A
5. Braden Overett 142.95 (90.42) [Pirates of the Caribbean] - opened with a difficult diagonal footwork sequence, 3rd highest PCS, many jump problems unfortunately
6. Dice Murakami 142.12 (90.34) [orchestral/soundtrack?] - 3A fall
7. Daniel Steffel 131.65 (85.00) [music?]

SENIOR LADIES SP (Saturday):
1. Bebe Liang 49.53
2. Tashe Smith 46.97
3. Tenile Victorsen 41.37
4. Karen Zhou 36.49
5. Angie Lien 35.77
6. Becky Hughes 35.31
7. Joanna Webber (GBR) 34.67
8. Amy Evidente 34.05
9. Danielle Shepard 32.41
10. Jessica Martino 31.68
11. Abigail Legg 29.69
12. Lauren Hennessy 28.49

SENIOR LADIES FS (late Sunday): no results at this time. The following report/notes are by someone who has given me permission to repost them here:
<begin report>
I have a few jump notes for Senior Ladies tho' I don't know the final results
(also please forgive any errors or omissions in this or other postings).

2nd Warm-up Group only **in skate order**:

1. Bebe Liang - looked like she was going to have a much better skate than her qualifying round as she was very solid in warm-up - however...
pop f, 3z/2t(stp out), pop r, 3s(fall), 3t(stp out), 3z(fall).

2. Tashe Smith - 2a/2t, 3f, 3s/2t, 2r(opened up from the triple), 3t, 1a(opened up from the double), 3s(fall).

3. Angie Lien - 3t, 2z, 3f, 2a, 3z(ur-fall), 3s/2t, 3t(2 ft.?)/2t.

4. Tenile Victorsen - 3s(fall), 3t(hand touchdown)/2t, 3r(fell out - hand touch), 2a/2t/2r, 3t, 3s(fall), 2a(slight free foot touch).

5. Karen Zhou - 3t(fall), 3s, 3f, 3r, 2a, 3s, 2a/2t it looked like all her triples were under-rotated tonight though this is not always the case.

6. Becky Hughes - 3t(fall), 3z(ur-came out forward), 3r(fall), 2a, 3t(ur-came out forward), 3z(2 ft.-fall), 2a/2t(fall).

The audience was tired at the end of a long competition and it looked like the Sr. Ladies were as well - the event didn't begin till after 9pm and ended around 10:45 - much of the audience had left after the excitement of the Juniors. I think all these skaters have much better performances in them.
<end report>

JUNIOR LADIES SP (Saturday):
1. Caroline Zhang 59.48
2. Mirai Nagasu 54.93
3. Laney Diggs 44.03
4. Victoria Rackohn 42.64
5. Sophia Adams 37.00
6. Angelyn Nguyen 36.67
7. Kimmi Jeffers 35.05
8. Tippy Yu 33.70
9. Hayley SooHoo 30.94
10. Cara Kinney 30.74
11. Keli Zhou 26.20
12. Lexi Ibanez 24.00
Both Zhang and Nagasu reportedly landed 3Z-2T, 3F and 2A.

JUNIOR LADIES FS (Sunday) -- FS results/report/notes by someone who has given me permission to repost them here:
<begin report>
1. Caroline Zhang stole the show (and the top award for most outstanding performance of GW) with a perfect program to Meditation from Thais, earning a FS score of 113.82 for a total of 173.30 - (oh, while waiting for her turn to begin, she warmed up with an easy 3z/2t/2r).
3z, 2a, 3f/2t/2r, 3r, 3z/2t, 3f, 3t/2t amazing spins and spirals, lovely artistry (If one were to nit-pick, you might like to see some more variety in her speed and character of programs - usually, all very gentle and soft, which she does excellently, however).

2. Mirai Nagasu 91.74 - a skater of similar potential to Caroline but not yet as consistent with the jumps. Skates quite a bit faster than Caroline, not as elegant in her presentation but very charming to watch, with a lovely smile - big jumps, great spins and spirals also.
2a, bauer into 3s, 3f(fall), 3t/2t, 3z(fall), 3r/2r/2r, 3z/2t. I was impressed that after her second fall, she came back to do TWO difficult combinations near the end of the program.

3. Laney Diggs 84.97 - this girl has progressed very quickly over the last two years and shows lots of potential.
3z, 3f(fall), 3s, 3r, pop z/2t, 2a/2t/2t, 3s/2t (not sure if all those combos were 2 toes).

4. Victoria Rackohn - not a great skate for Victoria - but, again, so much potential. A very graceful skater, tonight seemed a little rushed in the jumps. She did land a 3z in the warm-up...
3z(fell out), 3f(fell out), 3s, 2a/1r, pop z, 2f, 2a spirals good, missed an entrance on her layback, one interesting sit spin(cannonball) position with her free leg OVER her head!
<end report>

JUNIOR MEN FS/FINAL (Friday)
1. Richard Dornbush 164.56 (117.00 FS)
2. Andrew Gonzalez 131.11 (84.02)
3. Stanislav Samohin 128.79 (88.88)
4. Douglas Razzano 128.67 (79.21)
5. Peter Lindstrom (CP) 121.11 (74.68)

SENIOR PAIRS FS/FINAL (Saturday)
1. Vise/Trent 145.87 (90.73 FS)
2. Nam/Leftheris 143.93 (86.85)
3. Beriau/Merritt 108.92 (68.83)

JUNIOR PAIRS FS/FINAL (Friday)
1. Butler/Jacobsen 128.42 (80.85 FS)
2. Guillen/Curzon 98.57 (65.44)
3. Sales/Nguyen 80.85 (51.42)
 

purplecat

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
United-States
I'm crossing my fingers that Caroline Zhang will continue her success and we will get to enjoy her skating in the years to come. I've seen too many "names" come up that were so promising and then they fade away due to injury, burnout, etc. etc. I so hope that she will make it!
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Sylvia :love:, a huge thanks to you and to your sources for the reports.

Also Nigel, thanks for your balanced eye witness impressions. :clap:
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I'm not surprised with Caroline. I saw her at last years Nats and I wrote in here that she is a skater to watch. Apparently she has gotten triples which were not memorable last year.

Sylvia - If you have any contacts for Mexico City, I really want to to know how she and Rachel compare.and much thank for this report.

BTW, Parker keeps moving right along. He was so undermarked last Nats. I told him it was because he skated first. And I really meant it.

Joe
 

floskate

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Caroline has seemingly made progress on her under-rotated jumps since last year. :clap: Her programs are beautifully choreographed and to her credit, highlight her strengths. But, as we watched the final round, we found that her programs are somewhat the same year to year, and yes, we were probably being a bit overly critical, but we all agreed that her programs are a little bit slow (she still does not cover the ice as well as she should, say relative to some of the other junior ladies) and her music choices have hidden that as well...she and her coaches tend to pick slower, more lyrical music which again, does play to her strengths in some areas, ie., the spiral sequences, but something she is going to have to work on before moving up to seniors. All in all, very nice performances this past weekend.

I see what you're saying, but you must see that many fans are only just getting to hear about her. There is only one clip of her in existence that I know of, so I'm not quite at the stage where I can say she's getting a bit samey. Heck I'd just like the chance to enjoy a complete LP from her!!!!!!!:rofl:
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I see what you're saying, but you must see that many fans are only just getting to hear about her. There is only one clip of her in existence that I know of, so I'm not quite at the stage where I can say she's getting a bit samey. Heck I'd just like the chance to enjoy a complete LP from her!!!!!!!:rofl:
Get thee to Mexico City and check her out and moreso, compare her with, Rachel Flatt. The times, they are a changing.

Joe
 

waxel

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Sylvia, thanks for the scoop.

Any word on the W/D's of Kahle or Nic LaRoche? Looks like Sandy Rucker continues to struggle.

Does anyone know what is up with Jordan Brauninger? I believe he was injured and didn't compete much (if at all?) last season. Will he be back?
 

IDLERACER

Medalist
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
The Culver ice rink has just enough room for the friends and relatives of all the contestants. The bleachers on one side go all the way to the ceiling, and on the other side, are only about four rows thick.
 
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