Top 10 pairs??

brenlyn - I really don't remember them last year, and I was there. But from this year's Nats, they look fine.

Doris - They have a very good routine and most of it is skated well, but as you say, there are little trips and stumbles here and there (mostly by Garret). Hopefully they've worked on that, and more coordination on their lifts.

Lifts, by any Pairs team, are pretty much of a trick. The two skaters must work in sync. The point is for her to jump as high as she can for him to extend his arms over his head. That's the foundation. Then the danger part comes in. What kind of acrobatic or circus moves they make during that lift, and then their smooth landing. This takes a lot of months of practice to make it feel easy.

BTW, I find Garret looking different from all male figure skaters. He looks to me like a blue collar worker. I actually like the look. What do you think?

Joe

I actually kind of like Lucash's look, too; he IS rather cute in a -- well, yeah, blue collar way would be the best way to put it without sounding completely rude. As a skater, though, I find him a bit -- lumbering. Tho I did note SOME improvement from last season. I've only ever seen them skate at Nationals; I'm assuming they have skated well enough at other venues to warrant the strong support base they seem to have; I have to say personally that I have yet to be even remotely impressed.

(BTW, they were 16th in DC last year)

Joe, I like their look on the ice, particularly the SP, which has kind of a motorcycle babes magazine feel to me, yeah I can see blue collar. A nice change.

Unfortunately, I don't see much improvement in the lifts, certainly not between this year's Nationals and Worlds in DC. I think their speed is better though, and some other areas have been improved. But I think they are ignoring the elephant in the room, unfortunately. They just have to go back and get the lifts right.

Missing jumps and throws are forgiven, but unison of spins, the lack of height on the split double and triple twists, and instability in the lifts, seem to be the unforgiveable sins.

Garrett indeed is a very good looking guy lol. they placed 16th last year at worlds, so I am quite sure they have room for improvement this season, at least I hope!! They made a lot of mistakes at Worlds last year due to inexperience.

Yeah, they do need a lot of work on their lifts... I saw some pictures of them from 2002 Nats, and their lifts looked wonderful. I can't believe Naumov doesn't have them work more on that. He is after all a former World Champion! I hope they do a lot of work on them over the summer during the off-season and hopefully they stay healthy this coming off-season compared to last off-season where it really cut back seriously on their training time.

Garrett says the hooks are starting to fall out of his skates

Thanks Brelynn for the update. I hope that Katie and Garrett do really well here!! I think they are a nice fresh team with plenty of potential. It is amazing to think they have only been together for 3 yrs! I think they can place at least in the Top 12 this year. Go O&L!

no problem idol garrett had been having problems with his feet shortly after 4CC and switched back to old boots, and now the hooks are coming out. i've seen enough problems with boots for one season lol.

i wish him and katie the best!! i hope they kick some butt and prove a lot of people wrong!!