2014 Midwestern Sectionals | Golden Skate

2014 Midwestern Sectionals

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Hi everyone, I will be an ice monitor this week at mids everyday since it is at my home rink so I will post updates as often as I can to whoever follows this thread...yesterday there were only 2 skaters I had on my practice sessions, an intermediate lady pooja kalyan and hannah miller. Both had good practices, Pooja was practicing double axles. Not sure if she plans on including one in her program as they are cheated and she didn't land one. Hannah popped a couple jumps and only fell once or twice. Triples look clean and confident. I will be there tonight for a couple hours so I'll see who's there.
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Is Caroline competing here, too? And thank you for any updates about Hannah, after her poor JGP showing I am really curious about how she's skating... :popcorn:
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Is Caroline competing here, too? And thank you for any updates about Hannah, after her poor JGP showing I am really curious about how she's skating... :popcorn:

Caroline is competing in the Pacific Coast Sectionals, along with Rachael Flatt and Leah Keiser.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
So her chances to make it to Nationals are practically 0 right now? :cry:

Acutally, they are much easier. Angela Wang was going to compete at sectionals, but then she got the invite to JGPF due to Karen Chen's withdrawl. The JGPF gives Angela a bye to Nationals, which opens up a spot she would have likely received at sectionals.

That said Caroline will likely face some competition still: Along with Rachael and Leah, there is also Vanessa Lam and several others who scored better at regionals than Caroline did at Skate America.

Midwestern sectionals, with five top candidates -- Alissa Czisny, Hannah Miller, Barbie Long, Ashley Cain and Mariah Bell -- for just four spots is much more brutal.

ETA: Alissa is out: http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=49713&type=media

This should give a bit of breathing room for the other four.
 

Chemistry66

Mmmmm, tacos.
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Holy crap Mids is in the same place I am right now. Too bad I don't have time to go watch.
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
ETA: Alissa is out: http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=49713&type=media

This should give a bit of breathing room for the other four.

Ah yes I caught wind of this yesterday but didn't know if it was true. Bummed since ill be monitor for senior ladies free. Thanks for the info. Hopefully if those 4 skate clean they're a lock. Go hannah! :points:

But basically that sounded like Alissas retirement announcement. Heartbroken is right...but I understand. I would much rather her not get injured than risk that again even though we won't see her give the olympic team a shot like she wanted so much :cry:
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Madeline aaron and Max settlage got done practicing a little while ago and they did great. Landed lots of nice solid throw 3S and 3Lo. I got to talk to them before the event too :)
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Madeline aaron and Max settlage got done practicing a little while ago and they did great. Landed lots of nice solid throw 3S and 3Lo. I got to talk to them before the event too :)

Thx for all of your reporting, macy ... and esp. re Aaron/Settlage. I had been hoping to hear something about them, and you read my mind. :)

A few links for reference:

2014 Midwestern Sectional Championships, Suburban Ice East Lansing, East Lansing, Michigan
Starting orders/Results

Competition website:

Competition schedule:

IceNetwork's blurb re its live coverage -- for subscribers -- on Saturday of all Sectionals:
 

MFarone

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 20, 2003
Country
United-States
Thanks Macy for your reports on Mids! It is always great to hear a skater report because they recognize the jumps, etc. Have fun too! I am also sad for Alissa and hope she will heal, do some shows (so we can see her) and then reassess what the future holds for her. She is a very sweet person.

This is going to be a heck of a weekend. Last year IN drove me totally crazy switching back and forth between the different Sectionals. Then add in the live streaming from Cup of Russia plus the IceChallenge from Graz, and oh my!! :laugh:, how do I get any of my stuff at home done!!
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Well by the time I got home last night it was late and I didn't hear my alarm this morning so I was late to the rink this morning...oops. missed a couple of the top intermediate ladies so the first one I saw was pooja, she did very well. Wonderful spins, her beillman is amazing. The long is going to be a bloodbath.

I'm watching intermediate men right now, no clean programs yet. I don't think ill be able to watch the whole thing since I have to go monitor practice ice soon but vanya mokhov is out front right now, he landed 2A, scratchy foot down 3T+2T and 2Lz I believe.
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
Pooja is from Ozark FSC (NE Arkansas) and works at least 1X month with FrankC. Go Pooja! (A friend of mine is the former president of this club and I saw this kid on a session there last year - she was seriously busting her @ss in practice)
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Juvenile girls was a great event...I think there were only one maybe two falls throughout the whole thing. My favorites were Kaitlyn Nguyen, Gabrielle noulette, and one other girl who skated to parts of sing, sing, sing with lots of attitude and charm and placed about halfway through the pack. Kaitlyn was first and had really good jumps and 2 double axels and had super good interpretation for a juv girl. Gabrielle was 3rd and had BEAUTIFUL spins way above her level. She looked like she was about 11 and skated like she was 14 or 15. She was way mature for her age. Hannah's younger sister braedyn is also a juv girl and placed 9th and I believe scored a personal best. She skated clean but had some scratchy jumps. She skates just like hannah though, she's a mini version! Good luck to the top 4 at nationals.

Junior pairs is tonight and I talked to hannah today and I believe she is practicing tonight but I won't be there for either-I was there for 8 hours today and need to get to bed at a decent hour to do it again tomorrow. I hope Madeline and matt do well.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Junior Pairs SP is done.

Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage 56.38
Kaitlin Budd/Nikita Cheban 47.12
Aya Takai/Brian Johnson 46.60
Brianna de la Mora/Taylor Wilson 39.98
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Juvenile girls was a great event...I think there were only one maybe two falls throughout the whole thing. My favorites were Kaitlyn Nguyen, Gabrielle noulette, and one other girl who skated to parts of sing, sing, sing with lots of attitude and charm and placed about halfway through the pack. Kaitlyn was first and had really good jumps and 2 double axels and had super good interpretation for a juv girl. Gabrielle was 3rd and had BEAUTIFUL spins way above her level. She looked like she was about 11 and skated like she was 14 or 15. She was way mature for her age. Hannah's younger sister braedyn is also a juv girl and placed 9th and I believe scored a personal best. She skated clean but had some scratchy jumps. She skates just like hannah though, she's a mini version! Good luck to the top 4 at nationals.

Junior pairs is tonight and I talked to hannah today and I believe she is practicing tonight but I won't be there for either-I was there for 8 hours today and need to get to bed at a decent hour to do it again tomorrow. I hope Madeline and matt do well.

macy, thx again for sharing all your experiences and observations with us, esp. on top of fulfilling your responsibilities over such looong days. :bow:

Photo of adorable Kaitlyn receiving congratulations from ‏@Max_Settlage:

Cute photos/messages from @Hannah_Miller1 with/for little sister Braedyn:

Junior Pairs SP is done.

Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage 56.38
Kaitlin Budd/Nikita Cheban 47.12
Aya Takai/Brian Johnson 46.60
Brianna de la Mora/Taylor Wilson 39.98

Thanks, Mrs. P. :) Excited for Maddie/Max. :yay:
 

Turbo-Mom

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 27, 2011
Senior Ice Dance official practice starts tonight. Aldridge & Eaton will be practicing their Bollywood Program. If your interested in the hand gestures associated with the dance, Ice Network, recently did an article on this dance - See Excerpt Below:

"Alexandra Aldridge and Daniel Eaton made their Grand Prix debut in China with a sparkling new free dance to Indian music. "When we started this season we were unsure of what to do for music, because all the pieces of music we've skated to so far have been more for the crowd and not so much the musicality," Eaton said. "We were trying to involve the crowd as much as possible."

Pasquale Camerlengo -- who choreographs for the team along with coaches Angelika Krylova and Massimo Scali -- came up with the idea of Indian music, specifically Bharata Natyam, a classical style from southern India. The last part of the dance is to Bollywood music.

"My dad had heart surgery (recently)," Eaton added. "The doctor was Hindu and he set up a couple of connections for us to go and watch some dances."

The team has been working with Chaula Thacker, the artistic director of the Nadanta dance company, and they have been to several dance performances to learn the style and gain inspiration.

"It was such a beautiful dance," Aldridge said. "There was one part I wish we could have incorporated -- they have bells on their ankles, as part of their outfits, and the sound adds to the musical accents. We incorporated the precision of their hands, and how it told the story of the whole dance."

The hand gestures, and the dance as a whole, tell a story. The lyrics of the first piece tell the tale of a young girl trying to find a lost piece of jewelry.

"It's about a couple meeting and trying to go through life," Aldridge said. "In the beginning it's a search for a connection, in the middle it's a story of love and compassion, and the last section is a fight, a battle."

The costumes are part of the story, too. Both are made from traditional wedding clothes.

"I bought a sari wedding gown from an Indian bridal shop," Aldridge said. "All we had to do was make the skirt skate-able, we didn't change the top at all."

"The shop is run by our choreographer Chaula," Eaton went on. "She imports all the costumes from India. Alex's grandma hand-painted all the embroidery on my costume to match Alex's, which was remarkably tedious work."

Hope you enjoy and please stop and say hello.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Turbo-Mom, thanks for the info. I hadn't seen that IN article! Good luck & good skating at Mids for Alex & Daniel!
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Thanks for the info guys. If you're watching intermediate pairs fs on IN right now I'm ice monitoring!
 
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