I'm eager to hear your thoughts
The top 7 pairs went through is what I was told. So at least that's easy.
Yeah, but it really wasn't so easy. The cut is very tough. It was sad seeing the looks on some of the skaters faces when they realized they would not make it to Nationals. I think Martins/ Bedard already had a bye to Nats, but still competed. I mentioned some of my thoughts on the scoring in the U.S. pairs thread.
Hanns/ Neudecker WD after the sp (they were in the bottom three in the sp). Grace didn't look well. Danny seemed frustrated. Sad for them altogether, as they competed at 2023 U.S. Nats. Still, altho' they seemed to have improved this season, Grace was either ill recently, or having trouble with the pressure. They look good together, but Grace is not a strong jumper (I could say that about a number of pairs ladies, sadly. And some of the men too need better consistency). Still overall, as a team, H/N were not able to achieve their best. I wonder if they will split as on-ice partners? They are in a relationship off-ice.
Three teams needed to be cut out of ten. With H/N out, and M/B having a bye, it looks like every team made it except for the bottom two: Ouellette/ Newby-Estrella, and McFarland/ Gillette. The latter team are new, and clearly have a way to go mastering pairs elements and adjusting to each other. O/N-E are a competent, entertaining team, who competed at Nats last season. They don't have all the advanced elements, but it's sad they were cut.
OTOH I am happy it appears that the new team of Wessenberg/ Caputo will make it to Nats. I was impressed by their look together on the ice. They are graceful, and they appear to connect well. Caputo has more experience, I believe, so he is a good partner for Megan. Caputo skated for Italy, and I believe he was briefly partnered with Laiken Lockley. I wonder if Laiken has moved on? Caputo must have reached out to Stefania Berton (the Italian connection), and when the pairing ended with Laiken, Megan came from Irvine for a tryout. If Megan can fix her sbs jumps, she and Eduardo have potential. I enjoyed them, and I also really like Digerness/ Sadusky, among these lower placed teams.
I wonder if Caputo has been released yet -- maybe so by now.
Still trying to figure out what that will mean overall for some of my faves. Waiting for the fps. It's difficult to keep up with all the skating going on at the moment. It's fun, but exhausting. I have some thoughts on the pairs, which I will share later in U.S. pairs thread.
www.usfigureskating.org
