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JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING


NOVICE ‘BEST


EVER’ Novice ladies simply sensational BY TROY SCHWINDT


The novice ladies left quite an impres-


sion on coaches and fans with their jump- ing prowess, skating skills and overall per- formance package. Six of the 12 girls in the field attempt-


ed triple-triple combinations. All tried at least one triple jump. U.S. Figure Skating awards bonus


points for novice skaters’ triple-triple com- binations as well as for each different triple jump, including underrotated or imper- fectly landed attempts. “This is one of the strongest ladies


groups that we’ve ever seen,” coach and choreographer Scott Brown said.


“I’ve


had many novices throughout the years. You have to think back a few years ago: You could do a triple Salchow and triple toe and repeat them and keep yourself competitive. There were six girls trying tri- ple-triple. It was an outstanding group of ladies.” Coaches Tammy Gambill and Alex


Ouriashev agreed. “This is the best group of novices that


I’ve ever seen,” Gambill said. “They are so strong, and they are really fierce. It’s great for the U.S. to have so many young kids coming up with so much potential.” “The practices for these novices were


amazing,” Ouriashev said. “It’s a really big improvement. The American girls are get- ting very strong.” The other disciplines also shined, with


several standout performances. Maxim Naumov rolled to the men’s title with a score nearly seven points higher than that of last year’s novice champion. His triple flip-single loop-triple Salchow combina- tion earned an event-best element score of 12.90 points.


In his free skate, Naumov


completed seven triple jumps, four of which were in combination or part of a se- ries, to win the title by more than 11 points. In pairs, the first-year team of Erin Coleman and Derrick Griffin separated


44 MARCH 2017


Ainsley Peterson/Kristofer Ogren, Erin Coleman/ Derrick Griffin, Greta Crafoord/John Crafoord, Eliana Secunda/Blake Eisenach; Ice dance (l-r) Katarina DelCamp/Maxwell Gart, Jocelyn Haines/ James Koszuta, Sophia Elder/Christopher Elder, Elizabeth Tkachenko/Alexei Kiliakov


Kalyan, Alysa Liu; Men (l-r) Joseph Kang, Maxim Naumov, Dinh Tran, Joonsoo Kim; Pairs (l-r)


Ladies (l-r) Ting Cui, Angelina Huang, Pooja MEDALISTS


themselves from the rest of the field with their difficult elements and overall skating skills. The Florida team’s score of 134.44 was about eight points more than that of last year’s novice titlists. “With all of the work we are putting


in and great coaching, we can become a great team,” Coleman said. First-year ice dance teams Jocelyn Haines and James Koszuta, and Katarina DelCamp and Maxwell Gart, finished on top of a field that included several veter- an teams. Their performances help ensure that the future of U.S. ice dance is healthy and still burgeoning. “We had no expectations,” Haines and


Koszuta’s coach, Bianka Szijgyarto, said. “There are so many great teams here and teams that have been together for so long. This is all new to us, and we didn’t really know where we would fit into the field. We wanted to just do our best and enjoy the experience.”


LADIES Gold | Angelina Huang Silver | Ting Cui Bronze | Pooja Kalyan Pewter | Alysa Liu MEN Gold | Maxim Naumov Silver | Joseph Kang Bronze | Dinh Tran Pewter | JoonSoo Kim PAIRS Gold | Erin Coleman/ Derrick Griffin Silver | Ainsley Peterson/ Kristofer Ogren Bronze | Greta Crafoord/ John Crafoord Pewter | Eliana Secunda/ Blake Eisenach ICE DANCE Gold | Jocelyn Haines/ James Koszuta Silver | Katarina DelCamp/ Maxwell Gart Bronze | Sophia Elder/ Christopher Elder Pewter | Elizabeth Tkachenko/ Alexei Kiliakov


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