NOVICE ICE DANCING
LEWIS AND BYE PROVE OPPOSITES ATTRACT ON THE ICE
by LYNN RUTHERFORD Chloe Rose Lewis is a budding
artist and actress, a bubbly young woman who loves playing charac- ters on and off the ice. Logan Bye, her stalwart partner, favors robotics and recently gave a student speech on the fiscal deficit. Together, the students of Cat-
lin Gabel School in Portland, Ore., wove a youthful, yet sophisticated performance to the charming Roar- ing 20s-style soundtrack of Te Art- ist to win the novice ice dance title. “Tat’s what makes them a team: their interests are different, their personalities are different, but they mesh beautifully,” their coach, Judy Blumberg, said. “Tey have a wonderful, nurturing relationship.” Te 13-year-old Lewis, who
hails from Portland, and her 14-year-old partner, who is from Colorado Springs, Colo., teamed up in 2010. Although they placed fourth in novice last season, only this September did they start train- ing together every day, when Bye relocated to Portland to live with family friends of Lewis. He enrolled in Catlin Gabel on the Knight Fam- ily Scholars’ Program, which offers a leadership, sports and academic scholarship. “Instead of training about two
weeks a month, which we did last season, we were full time and it was really nice being able to do that,” Bye said. “We succeeded [in doing] what we’ve been striving for, this season.” It wasn’t all clear sailing in
Omaha for the winsome duo. Tey placed fourth in the first pattern dance, the Starlight Waltz, after what Blumberg called “a glitch.”
Tey rose to second after the second pattern dance, the Paso Doble, and entered the free dance 1.21 points behind the leaders, Tory Patsis and Joseph Johnson. Tat’s where they really shined.
Skating to choreography by Marina Zoueva and Igor Shpilband, they executed three light and easy Level 4 lifts, along with a smoothly done spin and well-matched steps.“Te Artist” scored 61.64 points, includ- ing the event’s highest technical element and program component score, and Lewis and Bye ended with 102.89 points. “All of our work has paid off, and all of our coaches’ work has paid off, and I’m really happy about that,” Lewis said. “Tey are so easy to coach; they critique themselves,” Ikaika Young, who trains the skaters on a day-to-day basis at Winterhawks Skate Center, said. Next step: juniors, and likely international competition on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. Blum- berg acknowledged they will spend much of the off-season building their power and speed. Te young- sters are undaunted. “We are really inspired by Mer-
yl [Davis] and Charlie [White],” Lewis said. “Our goal is to be like them.” “We strive to try new lifts, lifts
like they do,” Bye said. Patsis, 17, and Johnson, 18, surprised themselves by winning the silver medal. Patsis, a former singles skater, took up ice dance less than two seasons ago. She relocated from Chicago to Colorado Springs last spring to team with Johnson. After winning both pattern dances, the couple impressed judges
BRONZE MEDALISTS SAMMI WREN AND ALEXEY SHCHEPETOV
GOLD MEDALISTS
CHLOE ROSE LEWIS AND
LOGAN BYE
with their tango free dance, cho- reographed by Trina Pratt. Tey opened
with well-synchronized
Level 4 twizzles, and Patsis hit el- egant positions in their lifts and spin. Tey placed second in the free dance and ended with 100.42 points. “From the moment we started
together, it went well, and in Sep- tember we thought, ‘We may actu- ally be able to do something with this,’” Johnson, who did not com- pete last season, said. “It’s definitely a big step up from being partnerless and having to watch all of your friends go to nationals.”
Te two, who train under Patti
Gottwein at Honnen Ice Arena, will compete as juniors next season. “We’ve been together such a
short time, we missed some of the basics of having a new partner — stroking, twizzles — so we will go back and work on all that,” Patsis said.
Sammi Wren’s lovely red hair SILVER MEDALISTS JOSEPH JOHNSON
TORY PATSIS AND
44 MARCH 2013
was shown to great effect in Wren and partner Alexey Shchepetov’s dramatic free dance to Cirque du Soleil’s “Alegria,” and the team
earned Level 4s for three lifts as well as the spin. Te skaters, who train in Philadelphia, rose from fourth after the pattern dances to win the bronze medal with 95.37 points. “We were really pleased with
our free dance; it was a clean per- formance,” Wren, 14, said. “We are going to take our tests and move up to junior next season.” Te youngest team in the field,
siblings Gigi Becker and Luca Beck- er, just 10 and 12 years old, were third in the pattern dances and fourth in the free dance to place fourth overall with 95.26 points. Te 2012 U.S. intermediate champions, who train at Maryland’s Wheaton Skating Academy, added a shot of color to the event with their creative free dance to South Ameri- can rhythms. “It was a really fun program, because it was all samba and stuff, and when we skated it I liked it be- cause we were dancing,” Luca said. “Te costumes were different,
and they really matched the music, like rainbows and sunshine,” Gigi said.
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF
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