2017 U.S. SYNCHRONIZED SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
JUVENILE
Back row (l-r) Skyliners Giovanna Armetta, Mae Archie, Katerina Root, Sonya Danchak, Celeste Naughton, Mikayla Redmond, Kate Loughran, Veda Malhotra; middle row (l-r) Priscilla Liao, Anika Thite, Chelsea Peng, Alison Quiambao, Allison Bray, Taylor DelCarmine, Abigail Cohen, Alexis Steger; front row (l-r) Jacqueline Preuninger, Christine Song, Helena Seibert, Charlotte Carter, Serina Wang, Sherlynn Arcuri, Carolyn Fei, Gabriella Arovas
HEAVEN ON
EARTH Skyliners repeat
as champions BY MICHAEL TERRY
Te Skyliners (SC of New York) touched the clouds in defending their title. Teir angel-themed program opened
with a Level 4 rotating circle, and later included a Level 4 line. It garnered 24.27 program component points — the highest of the competition. Te Skyliners finished with an overall score of 46.45. “I’m really happy with how they skated,”
coach Natalie Martello said. “It’s always hard- er to defend a national title, so we came in focused on ourselves and doing the best skate for us. We were skating early in the pack, so we wanted to leave the ice knowing that we did the best that we could.” Wearing elegant, all-white dresses, the
inspirational program opened with “Heaven is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlisle and
“Angel” by Lionel Ritchie, before closing with “Walking on Sunshine” from Glee. “Tat was definitely the skate of our
lives,” skater Celeste Naughton said. Te Skyliners have become a force in the
juvenile division, having medaled every year since entering the category in 2010. Tey’ve won titles in 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Te Mini Mates (Hayden Recreation
Centre FSC), skating first in the 13-team field, performed to an African dance party theme. Tey collected the silver medal with 44.58 points. “Tat’s exactly the program that I wanted: nice, clean and calm,” coach Kendra Meller said. “Tey’ve been improving all season. “ “It was nice to have the moment that
we’ve been working for all year,” skater Alice Van Evera said. Te Skyliners and the Mini Mates finished first and second, respectively, at the Eastern Synchronized Skating Sectional Championships in January. Team Elite (Northbrook, Illinois)
garnered the bronze medal for its program set to music from the movie Grease, generating 43.53 points. According to coach Danielle Ostrower, Team Elite lost several skaters from last year’s team, so just qualifying for Rock- ford was an accomplishment. “It was the best they skated all year and that was our goal — to go out and have a great last skate,” Ostrower said. Capital Ice Connection, a first-year juve-
nile team, (Bismarck FSC) earned the pewter medal with 42.27 points Tis was the first year that the division used the international judging system (IJS), something that coaches said was an adjust- ment, but ultimately a step forward. In contrast to the 6.0 judging system, which was used by the juvenile division before this season, the IJS allowed coaches to better teach their teams about the elements. “You want (the team) to understand that
when I’m saying ‘Make sure you put your foot down’ that [the team] understands why because there’s a numerical value attached to it,” Martello said. “It gives the kids goals and it makes
them really aware of how the judges are looking at them,” Ostrower said. “It makes the scores easier to understand for them and helps their training.”
SKATING 23
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
