SENIOR MEN
tonight I just went out there and I feel like I de- livered pretty well. It wasn’t my best program, but there’s always room to grow and to go back and start working now.” While his overall total of 263.03 was well be-
low Chen’s, Zhou’s final tally still ranks in the top 15 all-time U.S. scores, topped off by an impressive free skate worth 175.18. Taking the ice to music from “Johnny Staccato” by Elmer Bernstein, the 16-year-old landed two quad Salchows in his pro- gram — one in combination with a triple toe — securing his place among the top U.S. men after a tumultuous few years that included injury and training relocation before ultimately returning to coach Tammy Gambill in Riverside, California. “I’m still kind of in shock that I got sec-
ond,” Zhou said. “Eighth last year with two OK performances to being second this year with a score higher than I would have ever imagined that I would get, I’m really proud of that. And honestly, out there, I thought about having fun. I was confident going into my jumps. Some little
mishaps occurred, but I’m pleased how I did, not just the results but also practices. It hasn’t been easy at all.”
2015 U.S. champion Jason Brown (Skokie
Valley SC), under the direction of Kori Ade in Monument, Colorado, had been nursing a leg injury leading up to the Championships, stating he was 80 percent during his pre-event telecon- ference. Despite the setback, Brown was able to move up from a fourth-best short program to earn bronze with a total score of 254.23. “I really tried to take it one step at a time
and not overthink it too much,” Brown, 22, said. “Attack with the same integrity that I do when I’m fully trained and at the same time, having kind of mental down times in the program where I can slow it down and refocus and really focus step by step. Right now I can’t go in based off of feel. I’m not trained enough to go based off of feel. So she’s [Kori Ade] like, ‘Act like you’re an engineer.’ You have to just focus on each el- ement, each part of the jump and that’s what I
really try to do.” With his injury taking a quad out of his
repertoire, Brown’s masterful components and skating skills carried him to a medal, and a place on the World team, garnering a program compo- nent score of 92.48 — the highest of the event, more than a point above Chen. His performance to music from Te Piano earned a Level 4 on two spins and a step sequence, en route to a segment score of 175.00. Repeating as pewter medalist, Grant Hoch-
stein (SC of New York) finished the week with 248.31 points. In fifth place after the short pro- gram, Hochstein rebounded with a solid free skate to music from Pagliacci that included two quad toes for 169.21 points. “I’ve put myself exactly where I need for
next season,” Hochstein said. “I’m working hard. I know the Grand Prix season didn’t go that well, but I’m proud of the work I did to get back to here and we’ll see what happens the rest of the season.”
Below, Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown win over the judges and fans with their sterling performances in Kansas City.
18 MARCH 2017
JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING
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