JUNIOR L AD I ES
John Williams to secure the title. Although the free skate did not include a triple-triple, some- thing Tennell said she hopes to include in the future, she executed a double Axel-triple toe, a triple Lutz-double toe and a solo triple Lutz. “I thought it went really well,” Tennell said.
“It went exactly how I trained it.” Serafini, who won the 2014 U.S. Novice
and Junior Challenge Skate in Salt Lake City in September, continued to show that her work with coach Rafael Arutunian has been worth the cross-country move. Serafini, who hails from Ni- skayuna, New York, and continues to represent the Skating Club of New York, moved to Los An- geles in mid-April. For Serafini, the switch to California has been a game-changer as she now trains alongside three-time U.S. champion and Olympian Ashley Wagner, two-time and reigning U.S. silver med- alist Adam Rippon and Nathan Chen, who made his senior debut in Greensboro.
“I was not used to skating with senior-lev-
el skaters,” Serafini said. “I never had anyone to look up to in my old rink.” Serafini placed third in the short program
Bradie Tennell Tennell joins elite company as champion by AMY ROSEWATER
Bradie Tennell, who hails from suburban Chicago, has been on training sessions with Gra- cie Gold; Tennell’s coach, Denise Myers, guided Megan Hyatt to the U.S. junior title back in 2006.
After competing at the 2015 U.S. Champi-
onships in Greensboro, North Carolina, Tennell, a member of the Wagon Wheel FSC, can lay claim to another common bond with those wom- en: Tennell now joins them in the record books as a U.S. junior champion. Te list of junior champions is filled with
skaters who went on to achieve bigger hon- ors, such as Sarah Hughes, who won the 2002 Olympic gold medal; Mirai Nagasu, who went on to win the 2008 U.S. title and become a 2010 Olympian; and Gold and Polina Edmunds, who represented Team USA at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
Tennell, who won both the short and free
skate programs with 176.36 points — 16-plus points ahead of silver medalist Olivia Serafini — hopes her junior title is just a stepping stone to further achievements in the sport. Tennell, who was fourth at the U.S. Championships last year, will move up to the senior level next season. All of which made for an excellent early
birthday gift for Tennell, who won her title on Jan. 23 and turned 17 on Jan. 31. When asked if there was anything else she could want for a birthday present, Tennell smiled and shook her head. “No,” Tennell said. “I don’t think so. I don’t
SKATING 35
think it’s sunk in. It really feels amazing. Tis was the icing on the cake.” Tennell built a lead of 6.04 points in the
short program, a routine she performed to “In- finity” by Hungarian pianist and composer Balasz Havasi. Her program, choreographed by Scott Brown (one of Gold’s choreographers) was high- lighted by her opening triple toe-triple toe and a triple Lutz, as she carried herself with speed and grace throughout. Tennell kept her foot on the pedal in the
free skate, putting out a virtually flawless pro- gram to music from the movie Far and Away by
Olivia Serafini
with a routine that included a triple toe-triple toe and moved up to second after the free skate. Like Tennell, Serafini did not feature a triple-triple in the free skate, but noted that including one will be key to compete with the Russians. Serafini, who skated to music from Te Lord of the Rings, finished with 160.00 points. Taking the bronze was Vivian Le, the 2014
U.S. novice champion of the Dallas Figure Skat- ing Club. Te 14-year-old from Plano, Texas, was seventh after the short program, fifth in the free skate and finished with 148.17 points. She was the lone competitor in the field of 12 skaters to attempt a triple-triple (a triple Lutz-triple toe) in the free skate. “Te short program was not the best skate,” said Le, who performed to East of Eden in the short program and to music from the movie On Golden Pond in the free skate. “All I did was try to skate for myself,” she
said. Le’s clubmate, Elena Taylor, claimed the
pewter medal with a total score of 145.31 points. Taylor trains in Long Beach, Calif., under coach Derrick Delmore.
Vivian Le
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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