2016 U.S. ADULT CHAMPIONSHIPS


Kim Sailer and Dave Garber


Shay Sterlace and Yovanny Durango


volved in the championships. Silver medalists Crystal Jugaszek (New Edge


FSC) and Paul Mata (New Edge FSC) earned 44.11 points for their performance. “Our goal was to entertain the crowd, and we


did,” said Mata, who’s been skating with Jugaszek for four years. “We like wowing the crowd.” Jugaszek has competed since she was a child.


Championship masters pairs podium (l-r) Crystal Jugaszek and Paul Mata, Kim Sailer and Dave Gar- ber, Tara Cioppa and Stephen Trzaska, Diana Cheng and Martin Romanik


CHAMPIONSHIP MASTERS PAIRS


Sailer, Garber celebrate a golden anniversary


by COLETTE HOUSE Full-time jobs, long distances and the de-


mands of everyday life didn’t stop Kim Sailer and Dave Garber (Pittsburgh FSC) from pursuing their love of skating and competing. Sailer and Garber claimed gold with 55.20


points and celebrated their 10th anniversary of competing. While Sailer’s job as a chief financial officer is computer-based and flexible, Garber’s schedule as a physician’s assistant in an open-heart surgery unit is more difficult to skate around. “I have a really flexible schedule so whenever


Dave texts that he’s out of surgery I jump in the car,” said Sailer, on balancing work and training with their coach, Elena Valova. Sailer, 47, and Garber, 45, achieved their


goals of getting both their lifts up and obtaining a score for every element of their “Amelie” program, which included a throw single loop, throw single Axel, two lifts and a pairs combination spin. Garber said that being able to show what


they’ve been working on and receiving so much support from fellow competitors keeps them in-


She remains competitive and enjoys the adrena- line she feels when out on the ice. Jugaszek and Mata compete in international adult events as well, most recently in Oberstdorf, Germany, where they placed third. Bronze medalists Tara Cioppa (North Jersey


FSC) and Stephen Trzaska (Washington FSC) live three hours apart, but still manage to skate together every few weeks. Good friends since their partnership began nine years ago, the duo wasn’t willing to stop skating when Trzaska’s job moved him from New York to Boston. Now they train in Connecticut, halfway between their homes. Trzaska was the choreographer for their pro-


gram set to “Te Prayer,” which included a throw single loop, a throw single Lutz, death spiral and two lifts to earn 43.08 points. “We’re like an old married couple,” Trzaska


joked. “At one point we didn’t train for six months and we got on the ice and we did everything on the first try, so it’s still there.” Diana Cheng (Washington FSC) and Mar-


tin Romanik (Baltimore FSC) earned the pewter medal with 37.76 points.


CHAMPIONSHIP ADULT DANCE


Sterlace, Durango in a league of their own


by MIMI MCKINNIS After the pattern dance segment, Shay Ster-


lace and Yovanny Durango led the field by 4.58 points. As they finished their free dance to music by Muse, they were met with thunderous applause


Championship adult dance podium (l-r) Jennifer Freedman and Arkadiy Sergeev, Shay Sterlace and Yovanny Durango, Debby Georges and Peter Sas- more, Debra and David Gaultier


as they made it a three-peat, winning their third championship adult dance title in as many years. “It’s the triple crown,” Sterlace said. “We’re


thrilled.” Winning gold by more than 22 points, Ster-


lace (Liberty FSC of Philadelphia) and Durango (IceWorks SC) were in a league of their own, avoiding any negative grades of execution and earning Level 4 on three of their five elements, including a combination curve to rotational lift worth 11.16 points — the highest-scoring ele- ment of the event by nearly four points. Tey earned a segment score of 55.16, en route to a total score of 91.73. “I feel amazing,” Durango said. “It’s amazing


that we put it all together and that it all worked out. We felt great. We wanted it to be an emotion- al moment, and I think we accomplished that.” Jennifer Freedman (Hickory Hill FSC) and


Arkadiy Sergeev (Essex SC of NJ) garnered an im- pressive 69.55 points for the silver medal, despite beginning to train for the event just three months prior.


“We teamed up about a year and a half ago,


but we just put our free dance together three months ago, which is when we started working on our pattern dances,” Sergeev said. Skating like a seasoned team in their Adult


Championships debut, Freedman and Sergeev performed their free dance to “Evgeni’s Waltz” by Abel Korzeniowski, showing impressive speed and unison. Te duo completed two Level 2 lifts en


SKATING 35


PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING


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