2024 U.S. Midwestern Sectional Singles & U.S. Ice Dance Final

[yuki@thelake]

Tomoki. Best I've seen him skate in a long time.

He's been really solid at practice, and it's really good to see him do well. Saw him arrive at the registration desk yesterday, and he's super shy and very reserved.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Does anyone know why Peterson and Chen withdrew from Midwestern Sectionals free skate ?. I hope they are okay what does that mean for them in regards to nationals.

 

[SmileHappy34]

Congratulations to all who makes it to nationals.
Flowers goes out to all competitors . Keep striving and developing .

 

[Seven Sisters]

Does anyone know why Peterson and Chen withdrew from Midwestern Sectionals free skate ?. I hope they are okay what does that mean for them in regards to nationals.

They actually don’t need to compete here, as they have a bye to Nationals.
That said, the Mullens beat them handily in the RD yesterday, which has to count as something of an upset.

 

[yuki@thelake]

My boys Kenny Eckert and Matthew Sperry in one warm-up!

Love the trajectory of Kenny's season: 1st competition after three years (!) of hiatus was the Dallas NQS; 2nd was Lake Placid, where they got into the ISP; 3rd was JGP Gdansk; and 4th was the sectionals. Pretty amazing

 

[dorispulaski]

Chen & Pederson qualified for the JGPF, which should give them a bye.

 

[yuki@thelake]

The brainy pair looks badass in their costumes! Matthew with his long wavy hair and black costume. Matthew is your super-brainy goody two shoes, super-nice kid type of guy. Both he and Kristina are students at the University of Michigan while pursuing high-level skating. I've known Matthew since he was a kid in VA.

 

[yelyoh]

Hmm Pederson and Chen WD after RD. See you at Nats, team.

 

[labgoat]

Does anyone know why Peterson and Chen withdrew from Midwestern Sectionals free skate ?. I hope they are okay what does that mean for them in regards to nationals.

Yahli seemed really off yesterday- I wouldn't be surprised to find out she is dealing with an injury. Again lucky for the bye.

 

[slider11]

Feed not responding on Peacock?

 

[slider11]

It's on...must have been a delay in the start

 

[purplecat]

Both Wolfkostin & Tsarevski and Flores & Desyatov were great in the free dance but something about F&D just compel me to love them. They skate with such abandon. I love it! I like W&T very much too. They are more controlled and precise. I think the tango suits them.

 

[yelyoh]

Watching the Jr men FS. So what is they fall, they skate with such love of skating and their programs are so much fun!!! I just wish I could bottle it.

 

[labgoat]

Watching the Jr men FS. So what is they fall, they skate with such love of skating and their programs are so much fun!!! I just wish I could bottle it.

I need a nap, but then I know where to catch up on Mids. Thanks!

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

What a great job from Taira, I'm so excited for him! 141 is a a huge score!

 

[yuki@thelake]

My guess as to who will make it to Junior Men at nationals: Beck, Taira, Antonio and Renzo

I got the four right LOL

So for Junior Men at the nationals, it will be:

• Taira Shinohara, Chicago FSC
• Beck Strommer, Alpine SC
• Antonio Monaco, Scott Hamilton SC
• Lorenzo Elano, Skokie Valley SC
• Lucius Kazanecki, North Jersey FSC
• Kirk Haugeto, SC of New York
• Aleksandr Fegan, SC of New York
• Jared Sedlis, SC of Boston
• Nicholas Brooks, All Year FSC
• Sergei Evseev, All Year FSC
• Vaclav Vasquez, Glacier Falls FSC
• Jon Maravilla, Detroit SC
• Luke Wang, Los Angeles FSC

Maravilla skated at the Pacific Coast but he's from Midwest, so the #5 goes, and that is Luke Wang. Both are pair boys and will compete at Junior Pairs as well.

Plus the top 2 of the Novice Men

• August Perthus, Glacier Falls FSC
• Ryan William Azadpour, Carousel Sherwood FSC
• Caleb Farrington, Columbia FSC (MD)
• Alek Tankovic, Atlanta FSC
• Marlo Rosen, DuPage FSC
• Ryedin Rudedenman, All Year FSC
• Alvin Luu, Broadmoor SC

Ryedin skated in Midwest for ice dance but he's from Pacific so Alvin might be in

 

[yelyoh]

Taira total score is 215!!! Senior territory!! But kudos to all the skaters in second group.

 

[RatedPG]

Sonja Hilmer
I was hoping she would post a better score than 52.60.
As defending 10th place finisher last year, her uniqueness is something I looking forward to seeing at Nationals. Hopefully, she will bounce back with her free skate as she seems to be a better free skate skater….

 

[yelyoh]

Jr Women FS. Kanon Smith a sad sad skate. I think she has the goods but she totally imploded. Here's to a better 2024 season.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Both Wolfkostin & Tsarevski and Flores & Desyatov were great in the free dance but something about F&D just compel me to love them. They skate with such abandon. I love it! I like W&T very much too. They are more controlled and precise. I think the tango suits them.

Both teams have talent. F/D are quite magical together. And their West Side Story FD is very beautiful and moving. It took so long for F/D's score to come up, which smacks of nitpicking and trying to keep their score down to ensure placement behind W/T. If W/T are scored 111+ in the FD, then F/D deserve at least 110+ if not higher.

Even in the RD, the judges assessed Bella a full point for a fall, but there wasn't a fall. She was in a choreo move in a split position with Vanya twirling her around. Bella did not come up smoothly, she leaned a bit forward before rising to her feet, but it wasn't a fall. The best equivalent I can see is that it was like a lean or a hand down on a jump landing. How is it a fall if she's already down on the ice in a choreo move?

The sport is so unfair. If you examine the scores between W/T and F/D, they were obviously closely scored. Except at Dallas Classic, where both teams debuted, and F/D were assessed music & choreo violations in both programs, which was confounding. Both of their programs were choreographed by top ice dance choreographers who are former ice dancers.

Dallas Classic wasn't made available for fans to view, but apparently Bella had a problem on a twizzle in the RD, and they really dinged her by a lot. So that was the reason for the difference in scores there. F/D made changes, came back at Lake Placid, and there was only 2+ points difference between them and W/T overall, with only 1+ difference between their FDs. How does that suddenly increase at the finals to over 7 pts difference overall, and 3+ pts difference in the FD? To me that smacks of unfairness. Even the icedance.com editor, in her review of Lake Placid, said she felt F/ D were not being given enough credit for their wonderfully emotional WSS FD. She felt that Bella & Vanya deserved to win at Lake Placid. I would agree.

Obviously, it's very close between these two teams. They have comparable skill sets, except that Bella/ Vanya have much more of a connection. Their chemistry is palpable and compelling. Meanwhile, I found W/T's tango somewhat boring. It's effective as a genre for a new team to sink their teeth into, and it highlights their tech skills. But I don't feel a real connection between them yet. I've always admired Katarina's talent, yet her skating has never drawn me in. Still, W/T are promising, but so are F/D. Nationals is gonna be a battle. I just wish the favoritism and unfairness in the scoring was not part of it.