JUNIOR IC E DA NC E
Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter
er really helps all of them a great deal. Tey can overcome any difficulties that they have together. Tey see what the others are doing and they work harder in the areas where they think they’re fall- ing behind.” In a bit of a surprise, Elliana Pogrebinsky,
16, and Alex Benoit, 19, won bronze after skating together for just nine months. Te tall, well-matched couple began with
a showy samba short dance with an authentic ballroom feel, courtesy of dance teachers Susan and Steven McFerran. Tey placed third in that segment and entered the free dance with 58.92 points. “It was definitely one of our better skates,”
Pogrebinsky, 16, said. “We were living it – that’s what Susan and Steve told us to do, and that’s my new motto.”
Te team went the classical route in an el-
egant free dance to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, where their long lines were shown to good advan- tage in their spin and lifts. Tey earned 144.51 points overall. Pogrebinsky, who represents the Peninsula
by MIMI WHETSTONE
McNamara, Carpenter pace strong field Four years ago, Lorraine McNamara and
Quinn Carpenter came to Greensboro to com- pete as juniors for the first time. Ten just 11 and 14 years old, they skated with precocious flair and creativity, finishing ninth. Since then, they’ve won a pair of U.S. bronze medals (2012, 2013) and a U.S. silver medal last season in Boston. Tat steady climb up the com- petitive U.S. junior ice dance ranks made victory in their second trip to Greensboro all the sweeter. “We’re so happy and excited,” Carpenter,
18, said. “To win where we started has felt great for both of us.” “We started in juniors at a really young age,
and we grew up and learned so much from the older skaters we were competing against,” Mc- Namara, 15, said. “We saw how to act, and what maturity looks like on the ice. It gave us a lot of time to have a lot of great experiences.” McNamara, a member of the Peninsula
SC, and Carpenter, a member of the Washing- ton FSC, won both segments of the competition, earning a total of 155.39 points. Teir short dance, skated with speed and attack to Nature Lounge Club’s “Heart of Africa,” gained Level 4s for its two Silver Samba patterns and for an in- ventive straight-line lift. “We love interesting lifts,” McNamara said.
“We always want to show something people have never seen before.” Te young couple chose music from Te
Phantom of the Opera for their free dance, and set about interpreting the oft-used music in a way uniquely their own. Interesting transitions, a stunning combination spin and a well-synchro- nized three-part twizzle sequence highlighted the routine, which gained four Level 4 elements. Te skaters traveled to New York City twice
to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running hit on Broadway.
38 MARCH 2015
“We don’t believe that if music is used once, that means it is used up,” Carpenter said. “We love this music with as much passion as we did the first time we heard it.” All told, McNamara and Carpenter won the U.S. junior ice dance title with 155.39 points, de- feating longtime training partners Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons by more than 10 points. Te Parsons siblings, who both represent
the Washington FSC, sat second after the short dance, losing a bit of ground when both of their Silver Samba sections earned Level 3. Tey skat- ed a dramatic free dance to selections from No- tre Dame de Paris, highlighted by an impressive straight-line lift. Te performance was tainted only by a bobble on their last stretch of footwork, and they finished with 144.98 points. “I caught a heel in the ice and I almost went
down, but thankfully he caught me,” Rachel, 17, said. “I think it was a great performance, other than that.” For the last decade, the top two teams have trained alongside each other at Maryland’s Whea- ton Ice Skating Academy (WISA), where they are coached by Alexei Kiliakov, Elena Novak and Dmytri Ilin. “Quinn and Lorraine are huge motivators
for us,” Michael, 19, said. “We really push each other every single day on the ice. I think it’s one of the best training situations you could ever ask for.”
WISA was represented by 10 teams in
Greensboro at the juvenile, novice and junior levels, and skaters from its ranks won six medals, including the titles at all three levels. McNamara and Carpenter’s victory was its first at the junior level.
“Our goal is to treat everybody equally,”
Novak said. “Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, and training every day togeth-
SC, and Benoit, a member of the Skokie Valley SC, train in Novi, Michigan, in Igor Shpilband’s school. Shpilband, who brought four junior teams to Greensboro, coaches 10 teams repre- senting five nations. Another Shpilband team, 2012 U.S. nov- ice champions Holly Moore and Daniel Klaber of the Detroit SC, climbed from fifth place after the short dance to claim the pewter medal with 133.07 points.
Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons
Elliana Pogrebinsky and Alex Benoit
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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