2012 PRUDENTIAL U.S. FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS SENIOR - PAIRS
coach the team. “Not just the skating and the elements, but I thought they really showed how much they love to skate and I think the audience enjoyed watching it.” “Te thing we have focused on the most
over the last three months is pairs skating — getting them to skate as one, and skate to- gether,” Meno added. “Tey have improved a great deal technically in the last year but they have also improved so much in the way they skate together and the way they present their programs. We want them to use this as an ex- perience and stepping stone over the next few years leading up to the next Olympics.” Skating last in the free program, unchar-
acteristic errors by Brubaker on the triple toe and double Axel cost them the gold medal. Placing second in the free skate, the talented couple settled for silver, along with their first trip to the World Championships. “I think it was a great week for us,”
Brubaker said. “We came in still a very new team hoping to skate two performances that were good enough to maybe make a World team, so I feel like we reached our goals this week.” Brubaker was quick to praise his younger
partner. “Mary Beth was great today. She did a
phenomenal job of keeping it together once she realized I missed my toe. For her to stay focused and not let that affect her shows a lot of courage on her part. She definitely helped to save the performance there while I was sliding around on the ice.”
Te sentimental favorites heading into the competition by virtue of their 10 consecu- tive appearances in the senior pairs event at U.S. Championships were Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig. Te two-time silver medalists (2010–2011) and 2010 Olympians displayed their trademark elegance and stunning lifts in San Jose, but difficulties with the jumps in both the short and long programs had Evora and Ladwig settling for a bronze medal. Despite the outcome — and failure to
make the World Team for the first time in three years — 31-year-old Ladwig reflected on the positive aspects of their performance in San Jose.
“I think we still have things we can im-
prove on, but we really did attain a goal,” he said. “We said coming in we wanted to break 115 [points in free skate] domestically, and we wanted to have the highest lift total [both of which they accomplished]. I saw a lot of goodness in there. It is a competition, and ev- erybody brought a good effort, and while we
Rockne Brubaker launches partner Mary Beth Marley into a new time zone during their event-best short program. The couple finished second overall and earned a spot on the World Team.
didn’t top out, that’s fine. We can come back with better elements and better tricks next year.”
Evora, 27, was also upbeat and realistic in her assessment of the week. “A lot of people were hoping that we would be national champions, and of course we want to be national champions, too. But it is a competition. You go out there and you have to perform. Tere were a lot of good per- formances out there, and we didn’t do enough to be the champions. But I still enjoyed my- self, I still enjoyed performing with Mark, and that’s what I will take away from here.” Skating a beautifully elegant free program
to Sleeping Beauty, highlighted by striking lifts, big throw jumps and gorgeous carriage across the ice, 18-year-old Gretchen Donlan and her 23-year-old partner Andrew Speroff finished a strong fourth overall. Within striking distance of the podium
after the short program were 21-year-old Marissa Castelli and her partner, 24-year-old Russian-born Simon Shnapir. Teir attempted throw triple Axel had the highest base value — 7.5 — of any element of the pairs compe- tition, but it was two-footed and that, along with other errors, dropped the couple to sev- enth in the free skate and fifth overall.
Seasoned veterans Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig glide their way to a bronze-medal finish.
22 MARCH 2012
U.S. FIGURE SKATING PHOTOS
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