SENIOR PAIRS
Denney and John Coughlin unable to compete because of an injury to Coughlin and the part- nership dissolution of 2012 U.S. silver medalists Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker. Te Boston pair rushed to a nearly 10-point lead with their short program to “Stray Cat Strut” and “Te Pink Panther.” Teir throw triple Salchow and program-opening triple twist lift generated big num-
bers en route to a score of 62.27. “We had a couple bobbles
but overall we’re happy with what we put out there today,” Shnapir said. Four other teams
found themselves in a logjam behind the leaders.
Felicia
Zhang and Na- than Bartholo-
may, Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim, Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, and Lind- say Davis and Mark Ladwig all were within 1.54 points of each other heading into the free skate. Up ninth in the 10-team field, Castelli and
Shnapir locked up the title with their free skate to “Payadora.” Tey moved effortlessly from one element to the next for the third-best free skate of the segment and an overall score of 180.61 points. Teir lifts, throws and side-by-side jumps were crisp and strong. Tey did, however, expe- rience one major hiccup midway through the program when Shnapir nearly fell heading into a spin and decided to sit out the element entirely as Castelli continued spinning. Tis awkward moment left everyone in the
CenturyLink Center and an NBC television au- dience stunned and wondering what was next. To their credit, Castelli and Shnapir regrouped, picking up the program after the spin and finish- ing strongly.
As they glided off the ice and in the kiss and
cry, Shnapir beat himself up over the mistake, with Castelli offering reassurance to her longtime partner.
When the scores were announced, the duo had the lead by eight points, with only
Zhang and Bartholomay left to skate. While Zhang and Bartholomay turned in an outstand- ing program, it wasn’t enough to overtake the leaders. Despite their comfortable margin of victory, the mistake with the spin was what grabbed the media’s attention. “It was a very long moment for me,” Castelli
said. “I didn’t know if he was going to try and catch up with me and I really didn’t know what to do.”
“I really didn’t realize how long that spin was
either,” Shnapir joked. “It was a weird feeling, obviously. At that point I think we just banked on our training and our preparation at home.” After the press conference, Martin and Wall
reflected on their team’s ultimate success. “It’s a great feeling to watch them, the looks on their faces, the complete and sheer joy that they feel,” Martin said. “When you work through so much and work so hard as they have done, it’s such a great feeling for everybody.” Te team’s ability to rally after “the spin” is testament to the strength of their partnership as well, Wall said. “Tey were fired up and wanted this bad,” she said. “Tey could have let it go south but they didn’t.” Te gold medal at the U.S. Championships was the first for a senior competitor from Te Skating Club of Boston since 1963 when Lor- raine Hanlon won the U.S. ladies crown in Long Beach, Calif. Leaving Omaha with the silver medal were Scimeca, 21, and Knierim, 25, who forged their partnership less than a year ago. Te Colora- do-based team, under the coaching tandem of Dalilah Sappenfield and Larry Ibarra, sat third after the short program and won the free skate which they just started training for a couple months earlier after their Grand Prix assignment in Japan. “It’s more of a performance program, where the other one was more element-based,” Knierim said. “We wanted to change to this program earli- er but we had competition after competition and
Castelli and Shnapir soak up the moment after hearing their final score as coaches Carrie Wall and Bobby Martin proudly look on.
Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir deliver an entertaining free skate to sew up their first U.S. title.
SKATING 21
PHOTO BY MATTHEW STOCKMAN/GETTY IMAGES
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