NO TEBOOK
AMERICAN DANCE LEGACY When it comes to American ice dance,
where there’s one title, several more follow. The last four U.S. ice dance champions each topped the podium at least four times, dat- ing back to 1991 when Elizabeth Punsalan and Jarod Swallow won gold for the fi rst of fi ve times. This year, Madison Chock and Evan
Bates took their fi rst turn atop the U.S. ice dance podium, marking the fi rst time a new champion had been crowned since Meryl Davis and Charlie White’s six year reign be- gan.
“Filling those shoes is such a daunting
task that we don’t really put it upon ourselves,” Bates said. “I think this is a great start and I’m
FAMILIAR FACES During the senior dance event, some
familiar faces took the ice in an unfamiliar way.
Charlotte Maxwell, who last compet-
ed in 2009 with Nick Traxler, and Ryan De- vereaux, who last competed in 2008 with Shannon Wingle, both returned to the U.S. Championships in Greensboro, this time, skating with each other. “I ran a marathon in May of 2012 and it
didn’t do anything for me,” Devereaux said. “The people I was training with were really inspired and I was like, ‘I feel nothing.’ That’s when I thought maybe I should go back to skating so I can feel that passion again, and I do.”
“I was missing my outlet of creativity,”
Maxwell added. “Ryan and I had kept in touch through all the years, and we were both thinking about coming back. The tim-
ing was right.” The 25-year-olds had each missed mul-
tiple seasons, Maxwell skipping fi ve U.S. Championships, Devereaux sitting out six. The duo now trains in Canton, Michigan, with Marina Zoueva, and placed ninth in Greensboro with 122.50 points. — Mimi Whetstone
SCIMECA IS A QUOTE MACHINE U.S. pairs champion Alexa Scimeca emerged as one
of the best quotes of the 2015 U.S. Championships. The 23-year-old Chicago-area native kept reporters with plen- ty to write about over the weeklong competition with her spontaneous wit.
At the free skate press conference, she answered a
question about how her partner and fi ancé, 27-year-old Christopher Knierim, had changed in terms of his demean- or and approach from last year to this year. “I wear the pants in the relationship,” Scimeca said.
[Chris leaned in and said, ‘It’s not true’] I think Chris is the leader on the ice, and then in our personal life, I like to take control. I think maybe if Chris came off uninterested last year, he had a really tough recovery from his foot. Looking back he said he may have rushed it. It was just a really tough mental battle for him throughout the whole season. So coming to nationals he had a lot on his shoulders and once he got the metal removed from his foot, he has been ready to go and he’s let the tiger out.”
— Troy Schwindt
ecstatic about it, but we’re not thinking about a big chunk or an era like ice dance has been in the past. I think in ice dance these days, whoever skates well on that day can win.” Since the fi rst U.S. Championships in
1914, 11 ice dance teams have won three or more titles, with Davis and White hold- ing the record at six. The last time a U.S. ice dance team stopped at one title was when April Sargent-Thomas and Russ Witherby took top honors 23 years ago in 1992. — Mimi Whetstone
FARRIS STRUMS HIS WAY TO PODIUM With three
skaters left in the men’s event, the tension was palpa- ble.
Back-to-back
performances by crowd-favorites Ja- son Brown and Jer- emy Abbott seem- ingly shook the Greensboro Coli- seum. Backstage, athletes huddled to watch the monitor while NBC camera crews zipped up and down the corri- dor.
S epar a t ed
from the frenzy was the competition’s fi nal skater, Joshua Farris, who with coach Christy Krall found a pri- vate haven enclosed by glass. There, instead of stretching or visualizing his “Schindler’s List” program, the shy, 20-year-old skat- er strummed his guitar and serenaded his coach with Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud. ” As the crowd roared inside the arena,
Farris’ voice reverberated from the space’s high ceiling and wrapped around him like a child’s favorite blanket. Krall, meanwhile, swayed gently with the music. “This is the fi rst time that I did this at
a competition,” said Farris, who just four months ago began taking guitar and vocal lessons. “I think it actually helped me open up a little bit and share the same feelings that I have with the music I have in my pro- gram. It really got my mind away from com- peting, so it calmed me down a lot.” The unique warm-up sat well with
Krall, too. “I want you to know it was the best 15
minutes of my life,” she said. “I just sat there and said, ‘This is wonderful.’ It was very peaceful for me, too. He’s very talented.” Farris, who appeared calm and cen-
tered as he took the ice, performed a beau- tiful, athletic program to earn the bronze medal and a spot on the Four Continents and World teams. But now, traveling abroad creates a
new problem. “I’m terrifi ed of taking my guitar be-
cause I don’t know what the airlines are going to do,” Farris said. “I’ve talked with my guitar teacher and other musicians and they say there is no guarantee it will get through.” When asked how the guitar will get to
competitions, Krall quickly said, “Under my arm. You can count on it being there.” — Barb Reichert
SKATING 29
PHOTO BY BARB REICHERT
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84