Beavers enjoys breakthrough competition
By Michael Terry Haley Beavers said after her short program
in Saint Paul that she had been looking for a breakthrough.
And a day later, she got it. Beavers (Washington FSC), who trains in
Riverside, California, captured the title after put- ting together the competition’s top short program and free skate. She fi nished sixth in the novice ranks in 2015. “I really focused on making all of my jumps
more consistent and being more precise,” Beavers said. “I didn’t want to have a perfect skate, but I wanted to do the best I can. I know what I’ve done in practice is what I can do in competition.”
Alexia Paganini Haley Beavers
In her opening
stanza, Beavers skated to “Leningrad” by William Joseph, portraying a young girl reintroducing herself to the world after war. “I wanted to portray the cycle of recognizing
the past and moving on to the future,” Beavers said.
In her free skate set to “Quidam” from
Cirque du Soleil, Beavers awed the crowd with her performance that included fi ve triple jumps. T e Delaware native opened with a triple fl ip, followed by a triple Lutz and a triple loop-single loop combination. T e end of her program featured two Level 4 spins and a double Axel-double Axel se- quence. One of Beavers’ strongest performances of the season came on the biggest stages, where she totaled 150.93 points. “T is venue is one of my all-time favorites,”
she said. “It’s so big and it’s surreal that I got to skate in it. It’s something you dream about as a little girl.” “Haley is a bundle of joy,” coach Tammy
Gambill said. “She’s fun to work with and she’s very positive. To see her go out and perform the way that I know she can was fun for us to see.” Alexia Paganini, who took gold over Beavers
at Eastern Sectionals in November, earned the sil- ver medal, generating 142.88 points. T e SC of New York member was in visible shock — the “good” kind, she said — when she realized she’d be on the podium. “T is is unreal,” Paganini said. “I can’t be-
lieve that I did a program like that. I’m relieved.” Both her short program and free skate were second-best at the competition. Skating to “T e Carnival of the Animals” for her short program,
she overcame an opening fall to put together a solid program that included a triple loop, Level 4 spin and double Axel in the back half. In her free skate to Astor Piazzolla’s “Lib-
ertango,” Paganini pleased the crowd, landing six triple jumps, including three in combina- tion. T e highlight of her program was a triple Salchow-half loop-triple Salchow combination that netted her 12.73 points. She also tallied two Level 4 spins. She’s already thinking about next year. “I feel really confi dent now,” Paganini said. “Earlier this season I felt like I was struggling a little bit, but this turned things around for me.
Sierra Venetta
I’m really happy about my skate and think I can grow from this.” Pacifi c Coast Sectional winner Sierra Venet-
ta secured the bronze medal with the competi- tion’s third-best short program and free skate for a total 129.04 points. Venetta (SC of San Francisco), who landed six triple jumps and was awarded four Level 4 elements through both skates, was happy with how she performed. “I came here ready and I felt prepared,”
Venetta said. “It’s great to skate well and have all of that work pay off .” Her
Pocahontas-themed
short program gave her confi dence headed into the free skate. “It helped me skating on the big ice and in front of more people,” she said.
Ashley Lin (Stars
FSC of Texas) won the pewter medal with 126.09 points.
SKATING 45
PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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