MEDALISTS
GOLD Tarah Kayne/ Danny O’Shea
silver Alexa Scimeca/ Christopher Knierim
bronze Marissa Castelli/ Mervin Tran
pewter Madeline Aaron/ Max Settlage
Knierim, Tarah Kayne/Danny O’Shea, Marissa Castelli/ Mervin Tran, Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage
(l-r) Alexa Scimeca/Chris
By Troy Schwindt Minutes after winning the senior pairs
title, Danny O’Shea jumped in an elevator at the Xcel Energy Center and headed up to the main level where his parents, Don and Judi, were sitting. “How does it feel, champ?” his dad asked as the family embraced. Tarah Kayne, his partner since 2012, called her mother, Lynn, in Florida, where she watched the event on NBC. “Everyone was running around. I could
barely hear her on the phone,” Kayne said. “She was kind of like screaming.” The one person not there to share in this
special moment was Kayne’s father, Terry, who passed away from cancer a short time after the two made their U.S. Championships debut in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2013. Doctors told him he was too ill to attend
the Omaha event, but he was determined to watch his daughter skate one last time and made the trip to America’s Heartland. “I wish he could have watched me skate
today,” Kayne said. “I know he would have been really, really proud of me.” There’s no doubt about that. Kayne and O’Shea (Southwest Florida
FSC), the 2015 U.S. bronze medalists, who train in Ellenton, Florida, put together two performances that were emotionally packed, technically sound and the best that they had produced all season. Their free skate to “The Music of The Night”
20 MARCH 2016
from The Phantom of the Opera was performed with unbridled passion, speed and unison. The segment score of 142.04 and overall total of 211.65 were U.S. qualifying score records. “I felt really confident throughout the
whole program,” Kayne, 22, said of the free skate. “Once I landed my first jump and I fell really deep into my knees, I just felt confident. The rest of the program didn’t have much thought, which is a good thing.” Their free skate scoresheet included all
positive grades of execution (GOEs) for the 12 elements. They landed their side-by-side triple Salchows, the two throw triples were rock-sol- id and the lifts were dynamic, with compelling entries and exits.
The team’s event-best program compo-
nents were equally impressive, with a range of 8.54 to 9.18. “Our coach [Jim Peterson] always says this
program fits us like a well-worn glove, so we go out and do what feels comfortable,” Kayne said. Kayne and O’Shea’s beautifully skated and
flawless performance of their brand new short program — to“Take Me To Church” by Irish singer-songwriter Hozier — set the tone for the magic that followed. They nailed all of their elements, receiv-
ing positive GOEs across the board, while skating with raw emotion and power. Their personal-best score of 69.61 points gave them a 2.26-point lead over defending champions
Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea display passion in their new soulful short program to “Take Me to Church.”
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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