NOVICE MEN
HIWATASHI CELEBRATES NO. 13 WITH THIRD NATIONAL TITLE
by JOSH ELLIS Do you remember your 13th
birthday? For Tomoki Hiwatashi, along with turning a year older at the 2013 U.S. Championships, he also added another title to his mantle for a birthday he won’t soon forget. Hiwatashi, who hails from
Hoffman Estates, Ill., earned his third gold medal in as many years with 155.29 points, and now holds titles in the juvenile, intermediate and novice ranks in consecutive years. However, along with being happy, Hiwatashi was also critical of his performances. “I’m really happy and excited, but I feel like I could do more arm movements and overall perform better,” Hiwatashi said after the short program. Hiwatashi shot out to a near-
ly three-point lead after the short program which he performed to “Orange Blossom Special” and was businesslike, dressed in suit and tie,
during his “Die Fledermaus” free skate, which was just good enough to keep him atop the podium. Since he was so successful last year, earn- ing the intermediate title by a mar- gin of nearly 18 points, Hiwatashi was wary this year at his first U.S. Championships. “I felt nervous at the begin-
ning, because last year I felt like it went too well, and this is a huge rink with cameras everywhere,” Hi- watashi said. Hiwatashi landed six triple jumps at the competition and exe- cuted each element in both his short program and his free skate with a positive grade of execution. He did, however, finish second in points for his program components in both of his skates. Tird after the short program,
Oleksiy Melnyk landed seven triple jumps in his free skate to lift him- self to the silver medal. Eleventh at this event a year ago in San Jose,
Calif., Melnyk has since finished first in both his regional and sec- tional competitions before earning silver in Omaha. He earned 103.72 points for his free skate and 152.99 points overall.
“Tis feels good,” said Melnyk,
who lives in Reston, Va. “It was much better than last year, and win- ning the silver medal gives me more confidence in myself. I think that from now on I’ll be able to do a lot better in all of my competitions.” His triumph this season wasn’t
without hardship. Melnyk had to overcome an injury as well as a lengthy period of time off the ice to get where he needed to be. “I had an injury two months ago, so that wiped me out for a month, and I had to get my jumps back, but I feel better now,” he said. Nine triple jumps and three
Level 4 spins later, Melnyk can call his second-place-worthy skates a successful comeback, with hope and confidence for the future. Earning the bronze medal,
Nicholas Vrdoljak improved upon his finish from last year in this event by four places, and it was clear he
was happy with the result. Vrdoljak earned 139.11 points overall. Second after the short pro-
gram, Vrdoljak was thrilled with his performance on this stage. “I’ve never really performed a
short program that well so far this year, so I am pretty happy with my effort,” Vrdoljak said. “It was such a great feeling, especially out here in front of all these people.” Despite falling one spot on the podium after his free skate, the Westmont, Ill., native was still hap- py with his placement. “I didn’t really come here to
medal,” Vrdoljak said. “I managed to do one-and-a-half good pro- grams and to do that out here I’m happy with that. It’s a good feeling to win a bronze medal.” Daniel Samohin secured the
pewter medal. He amassed 135.07 points. “Winning a medal is fine for
me,” Samohin said. “I could have done better but the experience is wonderful because this is my first real nationals so I think that the ex- perience is going to help me a lot in maturing.”
SILVER MEDALIST
OLEKSIY MELNYK
GOLD MEDALIST HIWATASHI TOMOKI BRONZE MEDALIST
NICHOLAS VRDOLJAK
42 MARCH 2013
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF
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