What's Happening in U.S. Regionals and Sectionals?

MIDS SECTIONALS (all complete) in order of finish:

Senior Men
Jeremy ABBOTT, Ryan BRADLEY, Parker PENNINGTON, Braden OVERETT (Wes CAMPBELL and Rohene WARD were 5th and 6th)

Senior Ladies
Rachael FLATT, Megan HYATT, Angie LIEN, Ambar KAISER
(Rachael won by 33 points and got a 60 TES in her FS; her back injury has healed.
Megan was 11th after the SP and finished 2nd in the FS for the comeback of the year)

Senior Pairs
VISE / TRENT, CASTILE / OKOLSKI, KUBAN / POTTENGER, WEHRLE / KOLE, PIXLEY / SALWAY

Senior Dance: no competition at Mids.

Junior Men
Eliot HALVERSON, Grant HOCHSTEIN, Jonathan CASSAR, William BREWSTER

Junior Ladies
Alexe GILLES, Chaochih LIU, Kirsten OLSON, Brittney WESTDORP

Junior Pairs
BEST / YOUNG, MOORE / GAUMOND

Junior Dance
HUBER / EDELMANN, GILLES / McKERNAN, LLOYD / DEVERS, FARRELL / FISHPAW

Novice Men
Daniel O'SHEA, Alexander JOHNSON, Victor TRAVIS, Jon FELDER

Novice Ladies
Angela MAXWELL, Caroline FERRIS, Deedee LENG, Danielle SEITZ

Novice Pairs
LUCHAU / SPEROFF, CARMAN / KNIERIM, KELLY / WOODRUFF, GLASSBERG / WEISS

Novice Dance
SHIBUTANI / SHIBUTANI, EVANS / TRUESDELL, PENNINGTON / JOHNSTON, COOK / COWAN

Does this mean I will not see Rohene in Spokane??

I can't wait to see Rachel.

Joe

Joesitz said:

Does this mean I will not see Rohene in Spokane??

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Sadly, yes.

In the senior dance, keep your eye on

1. Charlotte Maxwell. In her FD, she was the only woman with a beautiful, flexible upper back and full body dancing. Her partner is a little too smiley for me (think Strictly Ballroom, although that might play a lot better in Spokane's larger stadium than in a small, neighborhood rink with maybe 15 rows.) It's a fun program -- I have to like a program that ends with Aretha Franklin singing "Respect" -- and I love her yellow dress.

2. Mallory/Holdburg's FD. They are coached by Ponomarenko, and Klimova has choregraphed a program for them that could have been danced by Klimova/Ponomorenko. Mallory/Holdburg held their own in it, which is saying a lot.

3. Whetstone/Obzansky's CDs and FD. In the CDs, I watched her point her feet beautifully. But through two phases, I wondered why everyone was so heartbroken when he went on a Mormon mission and Kendra Goodwin lost her partner. I found out in the free dance. It was Shpilband choreography, and he must be envisioning waltzes this year. The FD wasn't strictly a waltz -- sounded like ick soundtrack music -- but it had the flow and feel of one. They skated with beautiful speed and flow, and skated very close together in the footwork. She has lovely arms.

In junior dance, to watch out for:

1. Kriengkrairut/Giuliett-Schmitt. They skated with lots of energy and interpreted their music well. (Although I could have lived without the "rhythm box" accompaniment of the second musical selection.) They are nicely balanced, and they are skating to the same tune.

(One of the teams that didn't make it, Aanya Reiten and Duke Wensel were not. They did a swing program, which was terrific for her, but he's a waltzer, and judging from their waltz CD, a very, very good one.)

2. Oswald/Withrow, another Shpilband team with atypical choreography. They did the finest dance spin I saw at the competition, and his leg positions are difficult. She is very smooth, but he is a rock star, albeit with an Achilles heel: he either doesn't have the twizzle gene or he left it at home. He reminds me a bit of Ryan Bradley.

3. Perino/Avila. They need a bit more control, but they had a superb circular footwork sequence, very smooth. They also do very fast rotational lifts.

I didn't like the team that came in second, Wingle and Devereaux, very much, because they are a Shpilband team with a typical Shpilband, CoP-friendly but labored program. Her legs are as thin as Dan Zhang's.

Among the junior pairs, Butler and Jacobson have the bigger difficulty, but were a bit scratchy and bumpy. In my opinion, Chelsi Guillen and Danny Curzon are the ones to watch. She has charisma and great expression.

I think you're going to love seeing Phan, Murakami, and Villarreal. Each has excellent choreography (Wilson, Burge, and Dickson, respectively) in their LP -- and from what I saw at the end of Phan's SP, there as well -- and they move really smoothly across the ice. They don't have the highest technical content -- at least they didn't show it here -- but they skated beautiful programs.

I left before the Senior Pairs and Senior Ladies to go to a music performance, which was a mistake, because I couldn't find a paid parking space anywhere near the theater, and gave up and went home

hockeyfan228 said:

The music comes across wonderfully, except when there are lyrics. So it's not the announcers.

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Sorry to go OT, but that makes no sense at all.

Thanks Hockeyfan. I will take your comments with me to Spokane.

Seanibu - It is OT and I wish we had a thread on acoustics in ice skating rinks, but nevertheless, I think Hockeyfan is saying that it's the voice over the music that cause some static problem. I have to put up with this a MidAtlantics because it is held in an ice rink and not an arena where one pays for admission.

Joe

chuckm said:

MIDS SECTIONALS (all complete) in order of finish:

Senior Men
Jeremy ABBOTT, Ryan BRADLEY, Parker PENNINGTON, Braden OVERETT (Wes CAMPBELL and Rohene WARD were 5th and 6th)

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I was at Mids and Braden Ovrett blew the roof off with that long program. I don't mean the applause, though he got a good amount of that, at least. I mean the pure overwhelmingness of the program. It had speed and his componets scores were through the roof! 70+! He wasn't completely clean, but close, according to my notes.

And what did you think of Abbott?

It seems Midwestern Sectionals has more tougher competition than Easterns or Pacific. I've seen all these guys before, and expect a good showing this time at Nats.

But it's RACHEL that just may take over Senior Ladies at US Nats 2007. It's a must see.

Also looking forward to seeing Eliot Halverson v. Adam Rippon in Jr. Men.

Spokane - it's so far away. I hope they have a January thaw.

Joe

Anyone who was at Pacifics; what did you think of senior dance team Cyders & Young? I saw them at Lake Placid in August. They're a new team, but at that stage looked horribly mismatched. He is fabulous, and she, by comparison, looked more like a student skating w/ her coach than a partner. She kind of had that deer-in-the-headlights look, so I wondered if it was nerves.

What made it worse, for their OD, he was dressed head to toe in black leather, and she was in a pale cream dress that made her just fade away into the ice.....watching them skate, all you saw was him.

backspin said:

Anyone who was at Pacifics; what did you think of senior dance team Cyders & Young? I saw them at Lake Placid in August. They're a new team, but at that stage looked horribly mismatched. He is fabulous, and she, by comparison, looked more like a student skating w/ her coach than a partner. She kind of had that deer-in-the-headlights look, so I wondered if it was nerves.

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Their scores were significantly lower than the other three teams, who were within 7 points of each other, which was correct; they are not at the level of the other competitors. They are obviously new and inexperienced, but he presents her very well, and has a more low-key Agosto-like charm. What impressed me about their FD was how they used all planes, with lots of deep knees and slides.

Nice to see old Peaking Danielle Khale back in action. She had a pretty good score. Maybe she will surprise us this year. Who is Rachel Flatt? Is she any good? I want to see somebody steal the spotlight at nationals this year. Shake everybody up!

Pacific Sectionals-- Nick LaRoche must have had a rough free skate, he was solidly in first after the SP. I've seen him at Nationals and always admired the strength in his skating. I guess Maxwell/Traxler relocated? I think they used to skate in Dallas and were in the Midwestern sectional?

I am sorry to see that Wesley Campbell (apparently) didn't skate well at Mids. I really enjoyed him as a Jr. skater and have been waiting for him to make the leap to Sr.

Speaking of Jr. skaters... any idea whatever happened to Jordan Brauninger? I was really looking forward to following him .. and then he just seemingly dropped off the face??

Something Else to Chew On

Joesitz said:

Thanks Chuckum - I will be particularly glad to see the following and think there could be upsetting applecarts;

Evora/Ludwig in Senior Pairs

Adam Rippon (ya gotta see this guy. He's androgenous and much like Johnny Weir) in Junior Men.

Kristine Musadema in Novice Ladies

There are others I've heard about but not seen. And that Novice Dance, with those Canuscios and Lorellos. It should be a good US Nats with surprises in2007.

Joe

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National Contenders

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I thought that this might be interesting to see before Nationals. Please note the COP scores:

Senior Ladies
1 Danielle Kahle 150.24 1 1 - Pacific Sectionals
1 Kylie Gleason 148.16 3 1 - Eastern Sectionals
1 Rachael Flatt 159.27 1 1 - Midwestern Sectionals
2 Kimmie MEISSNER USA GP Skate America 177.78 3 2
3 Kimmie MEISSNER USA - GP Trophee Bompard 158.03 4 4
5 Emily HUGHES USA - GP Skate America 147.34 5 6
3 Emily HUGHES USA - GP Cup of China 151.12 1 3
4 Alissa CZISNY USA - GP Skate Canada 163.69 4 3
5 Beatrisa LIANG USA - GP Cup of China 134.99 5 8

Senior Men
1 Michael Villarreal 172.35 2 1 - Pacific Sectionals
1 Jeremy Abbott 201.63 1 2 - Midwestern Sectionals
1 Derrick Delmore 180.86 1 2 - Eastern Sectionals
2 Evan LYSACEK USA GP Skate America 221.09 3 1
1 Evan LYSACEK USA- GP Cup of China 220.04 2 1
6 Scott SMITH USA GP Skate America 173.08 8 6
4 Scott SMITH USA - GP Cup of China - 192.38 3 4
3 Johnny WEIR USA - GP Skate Canada 198.70 2 4

Junior Ladies
1 Caroline ZHANG USA 162.43 1 1 - JGP Mexico
1 Caroline ZHANG USA 162.42 1 1 - JGP Taipei
1 Ashley WAGNER USA 134.95 4 1- JGP Courchevel
1 Ashley WAGNER USA 133.98 2 1- JGP The Hague
1 Megan OSTER USA 121.68 1 3 - JGP Liberac
2 Megan OSTER USA 126.20 1 2 – JGP The Hague
2 Megan HYATT USA 123.51 2 2 – JGP Couchevel
2 Megan OSTER USA 121.68 1 2 – JGP Liberac
7 Megan HYATT USA 105.70 3 10 JGP Norway
1 Juliana CANNAROZO USA 116.02 1 1 JGP Budapest
1 Juliana CANNAROZO USA 123.28 1 4 JGP Norway
2 Melissa BULANHAGUI USA 115.60 5 2 JGP Micurea
4 Melissa BULANHAGUI USA 110.42 5 2 JGP Liberac
1 Sherry Barnes 134.01 4 1 - Eastern Sectionals
1 Alexe Gilles 132.48 1 1 - Midwestern Sectionals
1 Mirai Nagasu 135.04 1 1 - Pacific Sectionals

Junior Men
1 Eliot Halverson 178.88 1 1 - Midwestern Sectionals
3 Eliot HALVERSON USA 164.56 5 2 - JGP - The Hague
3 Eliot HALVERSON USA 159.66 1 4 JGP – Budapest
2 Curran OI USA 159.86 5 2 JGP Courchevel
4 Curran OI USA 145.81 6 3 JGP Oslo
1 Curran OI USA 179.81 1 1 New England Regionals
1 Adam Rippon 177.69 1 1 – Eastern Sectionals
1 Adam Rippon 139.44 1 1 South Atlantic Regionals
1 Austin KANALLAKAN USA 172.01 -JGP Courcheval
1 Austin KANALLAKAN USA 162.56 2 1- JGP Oslo
1 Brandon MROZ USA 177.16 1 2 - JGP Taipei
2 Brandon MROZ USA 148.55 11 1 JGP Mexico
1 Stephen CARRIERE USA 164.01 2 2 - JGP Budapest - Skating this year as a senior man
1 Stephen CARRIERE USA 178.62 2 1 JGP - The Hague -Skating this year as a senior man
1 Tommy S TEENBERG USA 175.30 1 1- JGP Skating this year as a senior man
1 Tommy STEENBERG USA 172.28 2 1 -JGP - Liberac Skating this year as a senior man

Just a caveat: you can't compare Sectionals scores vs. ISU scores. Sectional and National scoring tends to be inflated. Emily Hughes, for example, would get at least 10 points higher if she skated her SA and/or CoC programs, flawed as they were, at Nationals.

waxel said:

Pacific Sectionals-- Nick LaRoche must have had a rough free skate, he was solidly in first after the SP. I've seen him at Nationals and always admired the strength in his skating.

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He had three falls and bailed out of another jump. It was not a good outing for him, but he landed the only clean 3/3 of the competition.

Maxwell/Traxler did compete in Midwestern Sectionals last year:

http://www.usfigureskating.org/even...ts/200506/sectionals-mw/seniordance-free.html

The year before, she was in novice with another partner.

Not only that but different scores from different judges does indeed play into the graph. Best way to compare is by base points.

Check out this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk8NU2mRhWc

She's 15 and elected to skate senior (maybe to avoid Zhang)

Joe

Flatt moved up to Seniors because she was 2nd at Nationals in Juniors last year to Megan Hyatt (by a very small margin). Why NOT move up when you do that well? Flatt was supposed to skate in the JGP circuit this year, but a back injury kept her out. I think Flatt is 14, BTW.

Then isn't she to young to go to Worlds if she makes the team?

Rachael turned 14 in July. She turned Senior after finishing 2nd as a Junior at 2006 Nationals; she was also the 2005 Novice champion. She is following a path similar to Kimmie Meissner, who won the Novice championship, then the Junior championship, then moved up to Seniors (and medaled) at 15, but was too young to go to Worlds 2005.

Rachael won't be eligible to go to Worlds until the 2008-2009 season. She expects to compete as a Junior until then. It's too bad her back injury kept her out of the JGP this season. She couldn't skate in the JPG last year because she was too young!

I was at the Liberty Open (the utube video linked to above). That was her second performance of "An American in Paris" and it was quite good, but nowhere near as good as her SP. Her SP, to a Brahms piece, was exquisite.

I don't think for one minute that Rachael moved up to Senior out of fear of Caroline Zhang. I just think that she is ready for that step up, and she proved it by winning Mids Senior Sectionals decisively (both SP and FS).

euterpe said:

Rachael turned 14 in July. She turned Senior after finishing 2nd as a Junior at 2006 Nationals; she was also the 2005 Novice champion. She is following a path similar to Kimmie Meissner, who won the Novice championship, then the Junior championship, then moved up to Seniors (and medaled) at 15, but was too young to go to Worlds 2005.

Rachael won't be eligible to go to Worlds until the 2008-2009 season. She expects to compete as a Junior until then. It's too bad her back injury kept her out of the JGP this season. She couldn't skate in the JPG last year because she was too young!

I was at the Liberty Open (the utube video linked to above). That was her second performance of "An American in Paris" and it was quite good, but nowhere near as good as her SP. Her SP, to a Brahms piece, was exquisite.

I don't think for one minute that Rachael moved up to Senior out of fear of Caroline Zhang. I just think that she is ready for that step up, and she proved it by winning Mids Senior Sectionals decisively (both SP and FS).

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Flatt does seem to be on a similar trajectory as Meissner, moving up the ranks pretty much one level each yr. From USFSA site.....Flatt was nine yrs old at her first Jr Nationals event as a Juvenile singles skater in 2002. In 2003, she finished 6th at JNs in Juv girls, and 2nd in Juv Pairs. In 2004, she again went to JNs as a Intermediate ...both in Pairs (national champion with former partner Andrew Speroff) and also in singles. In 2005 at age 12, Flatt was US Novice Ladies champion. In 2006, last year, as a 13 yr old, placed 2nd at Juniors at US Nationals (losing to Hyatt by about 2 points IIRC). She tested the waters at summer events this year as a Senior...Broadmoor, Liberty and local events in Colorado , and won each event. She has added 3/3 to her jumping repetoire this year; again, similar path Meissner has taken. I would say that Flatt is looking towards the bar that is being raised internationally by Kimmie, Mao and YuNa, and Miki. As posted above, she certainly made a statement winning regionals and Mids (by 33 pts...6 triples and 2A/2A sequence in her LP). So, she is right on target with Sr ladies domestically and internationally.

Flatt will compete domestically as a Sr, but internationally as a Jr until she is age eligible for Sr. Last yr, following her Novice season, she missed the JPG because she was too young and this season, a back injury prevented her participation in the fall JGP season.