INTERMEDIA TE
grams,” he said. Dinh Tran, a member of the SC of San
Francisco, was second in both the short program and free skate to claim the silver medal. His free skate to music from Man of La Mancha featured a triple toe and double Axel, and he fi nished with 100.41 points. “T is wasn’t the best skate. I popped the tri-
ple Salchow, but it was pretty good and I’m very happy with my medal,” Tran, 13, said. “I’ll work on being consistent in my jumps.” “It was a strong showing, one mistake in
there,” Tran’s coach, Don Corbiell, said. “He put out some solid jumps and really great spins. He is landing triple loops and Lutzes, and trying triple Axel, so it’s defi nitely time to step up to novice.” Skating to “Tango de Roxanne,” Alan Wong
(Dallas FSC) had a most ambitious free skate, in- cluding an opening triple Lutz. Despite two falls on double Axels, he moved up from fi fth after the short program to win the bronze medal with 89.50 points. “I’ve been working on triple Lutz for quite a while. I actually got it before I got my (dou- ble) Axel,” Wong, 15, said. “I honestly thought I could have done a whole lot better. I will move up to novice next season.” Ryan Dunk (Baltimore FSC) showed off a
strong triple Salchow in his free skate to “Danse Macabre” and placed fourth with 89.09 points. T e 14-year-old thinks playing in the Here-
TJ Nyman
Kassandra Carpentier
just another competition. It’s a feeling like no other.” Twelve-year-old Ting Cui, a member of the
Baltimore FSC, fi nished fourth with a total score of 95.30, besting her Eastern sectional score by nearly seven points.
MEN by LYNN RUTHERFORD
For TJ Nyman, it’s all about the show. “T e bigger the crowd, the better I like
it,” said the 14-year-old freshman at Viera High School in Melbourne, Florida. “I skate mostly for the audience.” Nyman, a member of Space Coast Iceplex
FSC, brought the drama with his free skate to Bizet’s Carmen, using big movements and showy steps to set off his jumps, including triple toe and double Axel combinations. His 67.35 points were added to his winning short program, and he won the intermediate title with 104.70 points. “T e program’s story is about a matador who has lost his true love and then gains her back at the end,” Nyman said. “It was a little shaky, but I’m happy I won the title. But myself, I think I could have done better.”
Nyman, the 2014 U.S. juvenile champion,
comes by his on-ice fl air naturally. His mom, Katie McGovern, is director of the Space Coast Iceplex T eatre on Ice program. “TJ is originally a showcase skater; that’s
where he gets his performance skills,” McGovern said. “His coaches, Artem Torgashev and Ilona Melnichenko, pushed him to this (technical) level. TJ won National Showcase in 2010 and 2013, and he’s a member of my junior T eatre on Ice team in Rockledge, Florida, the East Coast Hurricanes, going to the world championships in Paris in April.” T e intermediate title isn’t the only thing
Nyman and McGovern are celebrating. Both be- came U.S. citizens shortly before the U.S. Cham- pionships. Nyman now has triple citizenship. Mom
Katie hails from London, and Nyman began skating in Isle of Wight, England, before moving to the U.S. at age 3. His father is Swedish. “It’s defi nitely exciting, America is such a
great country,” he said. T e skater plans to move up to the novice or junior ranks next season. “I have all of my triples, I just need to get them more consistent and put them into the pro-
SKATING 53
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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