2016 U.S. ADULT CHAMPIONSHIPS
CHAMPIONSHIP MASTERS INTERMEDIATE-NOVICE MEN
Rebuilding season a success for Rubke
by COLETTE HOUSE After finishing second in 2015, Michael
Rubke (Los Angeles FSC) stood atop the podium with a total of 41.24 points. “I’m happy because I think every year I really fo-
cus on the component mark, and the spin quality and the grade of execution. I think that’s really pulled me through a lot,” said Rubke, who skated to Coldplay’s “Fix You.” Rubke’s program included two double Salchows,
one in combination with a single loop, and two Axels, one in combination with a toe loop in the second half of the performance for a highlight distribution bonus. “Tis year was all about rebuilding,” said Rubke, a
chief financial officer of a restaurant company in Los Angeles. “Every year I question why I keep doing this. I keep coming back to it. For me, I love skating. I love what I do.” Rubke said he’ll probably compete in future cham-
pionships. “Somebody came to me before I skated and they’re
like, ‘Oh, I’ve seen you online and I watch you and you inspire me to want to learn how to do this spin or this jump,’ and that’s what it’s about,” Rubke said. Burton Powley (Central Iowa FSC) claimed the
silver medal with 36.17 points for his “Rise Like a Phoenix” routine. He completed back-to-back double Salchows, the first in combination with a loop, and a double toe loop in the second half of the program. “It’s good to be able to influence other athletes,
because there’s not a lot of high-level skaters in Iowa where I live, so I still try to set the example for them,” said Powley, who has taught for 28 years. Christopher Williams (FSC of Minneapolis)
won the bronze medal. He generated 33.65 points for his rhythm and blues routine that opened with an Axel-half loop-Salchow combination and a cho- reographic step sequence worth a program-high 2.00 points. “I gotta give credit to my coach Mark Militano,
because I gave him these ideas and said this is what I want and he took it and arranged it,” Williams said. Williams keeps skating in the family. His wife
competed on Serbia’s first national synchronized skat- ing team, his middle son skates and his youngest will lace up skates soon. “It’s just something that I love doing,” Williams
said. Tam Bui (individual member) won the pewter
medal with 32.72 points. His program included four double jumps, including an opening double loop-sin- gle toe-single loop combination.
32 JUNE/JULY 2016 JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
MICHAEL Rubke
Championship masters intermediate-novice men’s podium (l-r) Burton Powley, Michael Rubke, Christopher Williams, Tam Bui
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