icenetwork.com

Morgan Matthews and Leif Gislason won the senior ice dancing event at Eastern sectionals. (Sarah S. Brannen)

By Lynn Rutherford, special to icenetwork.com

(11/18/2008) - Last week, skaters around the country fought it out at three sectional competitions. The prize: coveted invitations to the 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Cleveland in January.

Byes were given to individuals and teams who placed in the top five at the 2008 U.S. Championships, as well as athletes competing at time-conflicting international events and those who qualified for the upcoming ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. The best of the rest put their programs on display, with the top four in each discipline at the senior, novice and junior level earning trips to Cleveland.

2009 Eastern Sectional Championships

At Eastern sectionals, held at the Skating Club of Boston, Shaun Rogers out-gunned Curran Oi for the senior men's title. Skating with verve and confidence under new coach Priscilla Hill, Rogers hit a gorgeous opening quadruple toe loop in his free skate, followed by two fine triple Axels. The 23-year-old took the title with 189.38 points.

"The Axel and quad have been really good," Rogers said. "I've been working with Priscilla a lot on my landings; she's been able to tweak a few things. In the past, I would do the jumps but get minuses on Grades of Execution. It's been good to get her point of view. I've also been working with Irina Romanova on my footwork, and I got a Level 3 [on my straight-line steps] here, which is great."

About leaving Pam Gregory, his coach of 12 years, Rogers said, "During the past couple of years, there have been some minor disagreements. I made the move the week after [placing second at] Finlandia Trophy [held Oct. 9-12]. Pam is a great coach; I hope we are always on good terms."

Oi, who won the short program, finished just 3.62 points behind Rogers. Jason Wong and Tommy Steenberg also qualified.

Another veteran, Joelle Forte, triumphed in the senior ladies event in a close contest with Brittney Rizo. Forte, a 22-year-old psychology major at Fordham University in New York City, earned her first trip to the U.S. Championships since 2000 by winning both the short program and free skate. Her long to Madame Butterfly featured six clean triple jumps, and her spin and footwork elements all earned Level 3's and 4's.

"I'm very excited," Forte said. "I trained very well this year. Back when I was 18, I quit the sport for a year and a half, but I missed it and decided to come back and show everyone what I could do."

Rizo, Blake Rosenthal and Taylor Firth will join Forte in Cleveland.

Morgan Matthews and Leif Gislason dominated senior dance, winning by more than 30 points. It was their first competition as a team. Their training partners in Aston, Pa., Clare Farrell and Charles Fishpaw, were second, and Lauren Corry and Alexander Lorello placed third.

"We made a few silly mistakes in the free dance, but it just feels great to finally get that first competition under our belts," Matthews said.

Florida-based Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett took top honors over Chloe Katz and Joseph Lynch in senior pairs, with Jessica Rose Paetsch and Drew Meekins also qualifying.

Here are the other qualifiers from Boston:

Division	Gold medalist(s)	Silver medalist(s)	Bronze medalist(s)	Pewter medalist(s)
Junior Ladies	Kristiene Gong	Kendall Wyckoff	Samantha Cesario	Gretchen Donlan
Junior Men	Ross Miner	Alexander Aiken	Peter Max Dion	Michael Chau
Junior Pairs	Tracy Tanovich Michael Chau	Lauren Farr Mac Kern	Lauren Ryan Taylor Toth	Rachel DeRita Brandon Accardi
Junior Ice Dancing	Isabella Cannuscio Ian Lorello	Sara Bailey Kyle Herring	Anastasia Cannuscio Colin McManus	Chloe Wolf Rhys Ainsworth
Novice Ladies	Yasmin Siraj	Viviana Mathis	Keilani-Lyn Rudderham	Christine Mozer
Novice Men	Christopher Fernandes	John McKenna	Colin Grafton	Austin Wagner
Novice Pairs	Olivia Gibbons Tyler Harris	Haven Denney Daniel Raad	Kylie Duarte Colin Grafton	Meredith Pipkin Brett Dunie Neustadt
Novice Ice Dancing	Una Donegan Andrew Korda	Gabrielle Friedenberg Benjamin Nykiel	Katharine Zeigler Samuel Rashba	Natalie Wojton Michael Soyfer

2009 Midwestern Sectional Championships

For Molly Oberstar, who turned 20 on Nov. 12, the Midwestern title was a wonderful birthday present. Alissa Czisny's late bye, due to an invitation to compete at the Cup of Russia this week, left the door open for the Minnesotan to repeat as senior ladies champion, and she won by 4.88 points over Melissa Telecky. Brittney Westdorp and Tatyana Khazova placed third and fourth, respectively.

"Overall, it was a really successful week," Oberstar said after taking the title in Sugar Land, Texas. "I basically put out two clean programs, and it feels really good. It's always a rewarding feeling when you train really hard and something good comes of it."

Oberstar, who is coached by Ann Eidson in Saint Paul, Minn., is thrilled with her routines, choreographed by former Canadian champion Sebastien Britten.

"I love both my programs, especially my long," she said. "It's North African, kind of ethnic. It's really unique and a challenge for me to grow into. I'm working on the performance aspect of my skating, to feel every beat of my music and know the story I'm portraying."

Former U.S. novice and junior champion Parker Pennington, who placed 11th at the 2008 U.S. Championships, won the senior men's event with 192.54 points. Eliot Halverson, the 2007 U.S. junior champ, was second with 186.21, with Jonathan Cassar and William Brewster completing the top four.

"This has been the most interesting season thus far for me, in a good way," Pennington said. "I moved back to Cleveland mid-summer to reunite with my former coach, [1960 Olympic ladies champion] Carol Heiss Jenkins. Being back training with her, in addition to Roberta Mitchell, has been the most exciting time of my life.

"I recently got diagnosed with vertigo, which was what [former U.S. champ] Scott Davis was diagnosed with as well years ago. It was a true wake-up call for me ... I chose to see it as a challenge. I have since come to realize I have had it for years and had no idea. Since discovering it, I have made numerous corrections both on the ice and off to battle it, and my results this season are beginning to show that."

Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin, sixth in the U.S. last season, won the senior pairs competition despite losing the free skate to Andrea Best and Trevor Young, who placed second overall. Lisa Moore and Justin Gaumond (third place) and Kendra Moyle and Steven Pottenger (fourth place) also qualified.

Here are the other qualifiers from Sugar Land, Texas:

Division	Gold medalist(s)	Silver medalist(s)	Bronze medalist(s)	Pewter medalist(s)
Junior Ladies	Christina Gao	Marissa Secundy	Kirsten Olson	DeeDee Leng
Junior Men	Grant Hochstein	Roger Corvasce	Juran Yang	Daniel O'Shea
Junior Pairs	Brynn Carman Christopher Knierim	Brittany Chase Andrew Speroff	Ameena Sheikh Aaron VanCleave	Britney Simpson Nathan Miller
Junior Ice Dancing	Shannon Wingle Timothy McKernan	Rachel Tibbetts Collin Brubaker	Brittany Marshall Ashley Deavers
Novice Ladies	Kiri Baga	Nina Jiang	Lauren Dinh	Mary Beth Marley
Novice Men	Joshua Farris	Jason Brown	Steven Evans	Jason Thomas
Novice Pairs	Cassie Andrews Nicholas Anderson	Lauren Gifford Carson Bodnarek	Ashley Cain Sergey Sidorov	Rachel Cole Colin Glabinski
Novice Ice Dancing	Anastasia Olson Jordan Cowan	Sameena Sheikh Daniel Eaton	Moriah Tabon Matt Kleffman	Grace Lee Sells Robert Cuthbertson

2009 Pacific Coast Sectional Championships

Emotions ran high at the Pacific Coast sectionals in Scottsdale, Ariz., when Nicholas LaRoche took the ice for his free skate to a medley that included "Unforgettable" and "Unchained Melody."

The 25-year-old skater, who lost his parents this summer in an apparent murder-suicide, rotated a total of eight triple jumps and landed two solid triple Lutzes, gaining a partial standing ovation from audience members knowledgeable about the tragedy. He placed fourth, earning his sixth trip as a senior to the U.S. Championships in the last seven years (last year was the only time he did not qualify).

"Deciding to continue on with skating and compete another year was extremely difficult," LaRoche said. "I had not stepped on the ice in front of any judges since sectionals in 2008, and with the passing of my parents I had a very different emotional barrier to break through.

"The support this year has been incredible, and it made me realize how many people were truly behind me and appreciated my skating. I am so proud to have made nationals again and am looking forward to a very exciting time in Cleveland."

The title went to Dennis Phan, the 2003 U.S. junior champion who placed 10th at the 2008 U.S. Championships.

Phan had an excellent short program to a piano version of Gershwin's "Summertime," highlighted by a strong triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination. He notched the win despite placing second in the long, finishing with an impressive 189.92 points.

Douglas Razzano, fourth after the short, won the free skate with a strong performance to music from the motion picture soundtrack The Red Violin. He hit a solid triple Axel and also rotated a quadruple toe loop before stepping out of the landing, then he proceeded to land six additional triples.

"I was very pleased with the way I skated in the long," Razzano said. "It was at my home rink, and everyone was always saying, 'You have a home-field advantage.' Meanwhile, in my eyes, I find it much more difficult to skate at home.

"I kept telling myself to take one thing at a time, just as I do in practice. It worked, and during my program, it was almost as if I had a checklist and was just checking off element after element. I was so thrilled with the result, especially after a somewhat disastrous short program."

Scott Smith, sixth at the 2008 U.S. Championships, qualified in third place.

Karen Zhou, who is coached by Rafael Arutunian and Karen Kwan in Lake Arrowhead and Artesia, Calif., won senior ladies despite having three of the triples in her "Daphnis et Chloe" free skate downgraded by the technical panel. She placed third in that segment but won the short with a fine performance to Spanish guitar music. Overall, she earned 132.29 points, just holding off Laney Diggs, who was second with 131.88.

"It wasn't my best performance, but I'm glad it was enough," Zhou said. "It's an improvement, and I'm proud of that.

"We've been working on getting my jumps bigger and stronger and improving the levels on my spins. This competition, my spins got all the levels we hoped for. I know I can still improve my transitions and presentation, and I'm looking forward to working on that before nationals."

After placing seventh in the short, Tenile Victorsen won the free skate and climbed to third overall. Chrissy Hughes grabbed the final qualifying spot with her fourth-place finish.

Lindsay Davis and Alexander Merritt, a new pair coached by former U.S. pair champions Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, won senior pairs with 148.68 points. Davis, who is new to the discipline, did double duty, also winning the novice ladies event. Jennifer Brunn and Don Baldwin, younger brother of two-time U.S. pair champ John Baldwin, were second. Bianca Butler and Joseph Jacobson (third place) and Laura Lepzinski and Ethan Burgess (fourth place) rounded out the qualifiers.

In a competitive senior dance contest, Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt edged out new team Trina Pratt and Chris Obzansky by 0.44 points. Jessica Perino and William Avila (third place) and Emma Cyders and Ievgenii Krasniak (fourth place) also earned tickets to Cleveland.

Here are the other qualifiers from Scottsdale, Ariz.:

Division	Gold medalist(s)	Silver medalist(s)	Bronze medalist(s)	Pewter medalist(s)
Junior Ladies	Ellie Kawamura	Carolyn-Ann Alba	Vanessa Lam	Keli Zhou
Junior Men	Keegan Messing	Austin Kanallakan	Andrew Gonzales	David Wang
Junior Pairs	Megan Gueli Grant Marron	Emily Glassberg Gabe Woodruff	Molly Aaron Daniyel Cohen	Kloe Bautista Galvani Hopson
Junior Ice Dancing	Elyse Matsumoto Patrick Mays	Charlotte Lichtman Dean Copely	Katie Wyble Justin Morrow	Alison Carey Daniel Donigan
Novice Ladies	Lindsay Davis	Angela Wang	Katlynn McNab	Kelly Nguyen
Novice Men	Joshua Santillan	Jay Yostanto	Edward Tea	Allen Gaghinjian
Novice Pairs	Tori Vollmer Zack Sidhu	Cali Fujimoto Nicholas Barsi-Rhyne	Marissa Spector Christopher Nolan	Morgan Agster Adam Civiello
Novice Ice Dancing	Lauri Bonacorsi Travis Mager	MacKenzie Reid Adam Munday	Joylyn Yang Jean-Luc Baker	Julia Leix Thomas Zebrasky