U.S. Figure Skating names JW team | Golden Skate

U.S. Figure Skating names JW team

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
U.S. Figure Skating names team for 2013 World Junior Championships

Pairs and Ice Dance official announcement from USFS:

ETA: Announcement re men and ladies coming Sunday evening.

PAIRS
  • Jessica Noelle Calalang/Zack Sidhu
  • Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier
  • Britney Simpson/Matthew Blackmer
Alternate 1 - Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage
Alternate 2 - Jessica Pfund/AJ Reiss
Alternate 3 - None​

ICE DANCING
  • Alexandra Aldridge/Daniel Eaton
  • Kaitlin Hawayek/Michael Bramante [??? surely USFS made a "typo"? her partner in fact is Jean-Luc Baker; ETA, USFS eventually corrected the announcement]
  • Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter
Alternate 1 - Holly Moore/Daniel Klaber
Alternate 2 - Elliana Pogrebinsky/Ross Gudis
Alternate 3 - Whitney Miller/Kyle MacMillan​

ETA:

LADIES
  • Samantha Cesario
  • Courtney Hicks
  • Yasmin Siraj
Alternate 1 - Angela Wang
Alternate 2 - Hannah Miller
Alternate 3 - Leah Keiser

MEN
  • Jason Brown
  • Joshua Farris
  • Shotaro Omori
Alternate 1 - Harrison Choate
Alternate 2 - Jay Yostanto​
 
Last edited:

Chemistry66

Mmmmm, tacos.
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
I was about to say poor Polina Edmunds and then realized she wouldn't have likely had a chance to get the minimum tech score considering she had no internationals in the fall.
 

Kissx3

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
tbh it seems like more of a shame to base your team entirely on one national competition re: they didn't send Miller. I'd think you could pick any three of those six and the odds are she'd likely come out of it with the highest placement based on how she has been received internationally.
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
i thought they had to send the junior champion? poor polina, because she could compete with them. not sure if i agree with the ladies choices...courtney hicks can compete with the best because she has the jumps but she can be inconsisent. sam has experience but not outstanding results and didn't make the JGPF. yasmin can be inconsistent too and i don't think has competed internationally in a while. i would have thought they would have sent hannah and angela, along with maybe courtney or sam. hmm. that one might come back to bite them in the butt.
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
tbh it seems like more of a shame to base your team entirely on one national competition re: they didn't send Miller. I'd think you could pick any three of those six and the odds are she'd likely come out of it with the highest placement based on how she has been received internationally.

exactly my thoughts. but what does the USFSA do anyways that makes sense...
 

Chemistry66

Mmmmm, tacos.
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
i thought they had to send the junior champion? poor polina, because she could compete with them. not sure if i agree with the ladies choices...courtney hicks can compete with the best because she has the jumps but she can be inconsisent. sam has experience but not outstanding results and didn't make the JGPF. yasmin can be inconsistent too and i don't think has competed internationally in a while. i would have thought they would have sent hannah and angela, along with maybe courtney or sam. hmm. that one might come back to bite them in the butt.

They don't have to send the junior champion. And they can't in this case because Polina doesn't have a minimum tech score due to no internationals yet.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Joshua, Jason, Maxim (maybe), Han Yan, Boyang Jin...oh man. What a bloodbath this is gonna be!

:popcorn:
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I was about to say poor Polina Edmunds and then realized she wouldn't have likely had a chance to get the minimum tech score considering she had no internationals in the fall.

31 Jan-3 Feb The Nordics
7-10 Feb Bavarian Open
7-10 Feb Dragon Trophy
13-16 Feb Hellmut Siebt Memorial

All those events are before Junior Worlds and feature Junior Ladies.

tbh it seems like more of a shame to base your team entirely on one national competition re: they didn't send Miller. I'd think you could pick any three of those six and the odds are she'd likely come out of it with the highest placement based on how she has been received internationally.

I think that for a federation like USFS, with so many good skaters, basing the teams based on one event is rather silly yes. Look at the whole season.
 

Chemistry66

Mmmmm, tacos.
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
31 Jan-3 Feb The Nordics
7-10 Feb Bavarian Open
7-10 Feb Dragon Trophy
13-16 Feb Hellmut Siebt Memorial

All those events are before Junior Worlds and feature Junior Ladies.

Yes. But I'm not shocked the USFSA isn't sending her to one of those when they have other skaters to send to Junior Worlds. That's an extra cost to them that I can't really see them spending when there's other eligible skaters.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Yes. But I'm not shocked the USFSA isn't sending her to one of those when they have other skaters to send to Junior Worlds. That's an extra cost to them that I can't really see them spending when there's other eligible skaters.

Yeah, I just wanted to point out that if USFS wanted to send her to Junior Worlds, they could have assigned her to one of those.

I guess she'll get 2 JGPs next season.
 

Dots

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 18, 2007
Samantha is my pick to win junior worlds. Wow! What grace and jumping ability. :eek: The USA team is way too strong this year.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Angela Wang should have gotten the nod over Yasmin to go to Worlds. This is what is wrong with the USFS. They take the results from Nationals and nothing else to decide their World team. Wang had a strong season on the JGP and even with as bad SP still finished in the top 10 for the second straight year. Siraj did not even compete on the JGP this season yet gets a Worlds slot just for one competition? Wang not only has more potential but would have finished higher at Jr Worlds.
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Didn't Siraj have a weak season so far, other than for Nationals?

Yeah she did but the USFA doesn't pay attention to things like the fact that Wang made the JGP final. I can understand going by the standings with the Senior Ladies but they have more options with the Juniors. They can pick a Jr skater who skated as a Senior at Nats or a girl from the Junior ranks who won the Jr title like Edmunds or one of the girls who competed on the JGP. But to pick someone who hadn't skated for most of the season just because she finished 3 spots higher at Nats is ridiculous.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Siraj won regionals by a large margin and was a solid 2nd at sectionals. She didn't have a weak season. She was injured most of last season and just started jumping triples a few weeks before Nationals which is likely why she didn't do well. But the season prior to that she was very strong, finishing 2nd at both her JGPs and qualifying for the JGPF, she put up some great scores on the JGP, and finished 8th at senior nationals as a 14 year old. Last season she was generally not skating so well due to the injuries, but both nationally and internationally, Siraj has always been well-received and scores well when she delivers.

I'm not sure I would have placed her 6th at Nationals, but I do think it's fair for her to be sent to JW. If USFS were to send Wang, they'd really also have to send Miller as well, as Miller beat Lam at the JGPF and their placements at Nationals differed by just one spot and one point, and that would mean either Cesario or Hicks would have to be left off the team which doesn't really seem fair given how well they skated at Nationals, they both beat Wang and Miller by a fair point margin. Plus then Yasmin would get nothing for placing 6th at Nationals which would seem a bit unfair because she did do very well and put up a great score. Hicks could have been given 4CCs instead, but then that would mean leaving Gao or Gold off the 4CC team, and Gao really deserves an after-nationals assignment after the season she had and the way she skated at Nationals, and I'm sure USFS wants to give Gracie more experience and exposure before Worlds to see how she stacks up at an event where the field is not a random selection, not to mention it should help ease some of the pressure on her.

So I really think Siraj was a strategic pick after they decided Hicks would be on the JW team, with 2 spots left, they could either give them to Wang and Miller on the basis of JGP success, or go with Siraj and Cesario on the basis of Nationals results. Also, picking Lam for JW on the basis of her strong JGP season last season after she finished behind Wang at Nationals didn't pan out so well, so maybe USFS is wary of that and is trying a new strategy this time around. Wang and Miller are both great skaters, but maybe missing out on JW will give them the push to, for Angela, overcome her SP demons, and for Hannah, work on consistently getting full rotation and more height on her jumps. If they want to do senior GP next season, they probably have the SB scores to get an assured assignment already, and given their successes on the JGP, they might even be able to get 2 assignments due to Worlds Standings and such. No need for doom and gloom for those two. Plus now that Siraj seems to be back to her usual self, I think she will do quite well at JW so long as she can keep the jump mistakes to a minimum.
 

goldseal11

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
After following Junior pairs this season and watching nationals, I can't help but feel that we are not sending the strongest pairs teams to junior worlds. Simpson and Blackmer are deserving and are where they should be as juniors. I'm not sure they are suited body wise for seniors, however they should clearly represent the US at Junior Worlds. I feel that Aaron and Settlage would better represent the US vs. Calalang and Sidhu. I know A/S had a bad long at nationals, however It will surprise if Calalang Zidhu finished above the midpoint at junior worlds. They don't have the tech skills and she looks shaky in the lifts, twists , throws and does not have a triple SBS.
 
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Simpson/Blackmer are lovely skaters but there's so little size difference between them, I don't think they really have a future in Seniors (not like he's going to grow at this age). Sorry. :(
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Yeah I'm sort of surprised they have had as much success as they've had. Brittany is 5'3" and for a pairs girl she has a pretty strong build, so it's a little odd she's skating with a guy who is 5'10" and not particularly broad or buff. Rockne is only an inch or two shorter than Matt, and more muscular, and mentioned how he was limited to very small girls as potential partners, I mean, Mary Beth was about 4'9" or 4'10".
 
Top