2008 US Nationals Pairs Final
New Skating Stars Surface Alongside a Newly Engaged Couple
It was a shaky year for U.S. pairs teams. Canadian and Olympic Champions David Pelletier and Jamie Sale covered the program backstage for CBS.
David relayed that his backstage jitters brought last-minute questions, like: “Are my laces done up right.” He said that no matter how jittery his legs were as he approached the ice, he would find his “answers” out on the ice. With 13 elements to complete in 4 ½ minutes, this year’s competitors at the US Figure Skating Championships undoubtedly learned a lot.
Pairs Long Program and Final Results
Gold Medalists: Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker
Legendary skater and commentator Dick Button (who is said to have attended Nationals 55 times) talked about this pair in their first appearance at Senior Nationals. Keauna and Rockne popped some jumps during their warm-up and showed nervousness that needn’t be.
They can wow the crowd all they want, but the best they can do here won’t get them a berth on the World Team. She’s only 15 and therefore ineligible for this year, but they worked this year to establish confidence for the 2010 Olympics.
McLaughlin and Brubaker were up first in the last group of skaters. Familiar music of Romeo and Juliet complemented these young skaters nicely.
Keauna and Rockne were a little worried as she popped several jumps in the warm-up. Nevertheless, they started their program off with a huge triple lateral twist that had enough height for them to develop it into a quad. It was followed by an effortless throw, a beautifully extended star lift, and clean side-by-side double Axels. She did fail to land the side-by-side triple Salchows, however.
Their slow pairs spin allowed Keauna and Rockne time to recover, but that sacrificed choreography complexity for those brief moments. More experienced pairs plan a “breather” carefully so their performance doesn’t stop while they catch their breath for the program conclusion.
Keauna and Rockne have only been a pair for not quite two years now. They have jelled as a team to the point where their lovely spiral and clean throw triple loop exhibit developing unison and excellent timing.
Their one-handed overhead left exit was awkward, not smooth, and their combo spins lacked perfect unison. Despite these areas of improvement, the footwork of this pair team showed a musical interpretation and partner relation that is natural and will continue developing in upcoming [Olympic] years.
It’s unfortunate that she’s too young for Worlds, and he’s too old for Junior Worlds. Their season stops here, but what a way to close out a successful year!
Their score of 124.20 for free skate combined with their short program score for a total of 190 points. According to the skaters, their first place finish was “Unbelievable” and due to hard work and training. (Their incredible good looks don’t hurt them either.) The humble athletes also credited their teammates and coaches for this win.
Silver Medalists: Rena Inoue and John Baldwin
These former US Champions returned to the states for this competition. Their time touring earlier in this season kept them in shape, and their break from competition seemed to be refreshing. They opened with side by side triple toe loops but only a double twist. Rena missed the combo jump, but their energy, power and experience was obvious, down to her hand position on lift exists. Their throw triple loop was clean – as it should be for this, the first pair to ever land a throw triple axel in competition. Unfortunately, she stepped out of it here.
It’s hard to watch them and believe that she is a lung cancer survivor. They aren’t artistically as poignant as some of the other world teams, but her audibles keep them synchronized, and his strength makes their one-arm lifts look easy. He’s 34-years old, and at 31, she’s not exactly young for the sport either. Their shows and touring time seemed to energize them so that they were strong to the finish. It wasn’t the best program they’ve skated, but it was certainly the most memorable.
He dropped to her knees after their program was done and proposed to her in front as the audience applauded. “I wanted to ask you that a year ago.” John said as they exited. Evidently, he asked: “You’ve made my career everything it’s been, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” After that he said their silver medal here was definitely second. Their final total score was 183.17.
Bronze Medalists: Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski
Defending US Champions Brooke Castile, age 21, and Benjamin Okolski, age 23, opened their program with beautifully interpretive choreography but mistakes tainted the rest of the program.
An imperfect triple twist didn’t stop this pair from performing a huge throw triple Salchow. Unfortunately, that world-class move was followed by shaky jumps. Their press lift with a flip-out would have been nice, but she seemed to get caught up just before touching the ice. Their landed combo jumps were out of synch, but their pairs spin showed their experience and was reminiscent of the great Gordeeva and Grinkov positions – as it should have been. Because of Castile and Okolski’s win last year, they were able to afford G & G’s choreographer for this program.
Brooke fought hard to get through their routine. She ended with a sigh of relief and stuck out her tongue after the music concluded. This was their first competition of the season due to various injuries and difficulties. That lack of competitive practice this year made defending their title difficult from the start. Their combined total of 175.07 put them in 3rd place.
4th: Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent
This team was left out of the final rotation after errors in their short program placed them behind Evora and Ladwig. They regained momentum with their free skate, however, pushing past their rivals despite another two point deduction. They earned enough points total, with 53.97 for their short and 107.23 for their long program, to earn a fourth place finish here at Nationals.
5th: Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig
Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig were not rushed into their beginning pose. She immediately gained command of the rink before taking her starting pose and looked up at the audience. Unfortunately, it looked like her skate knocked his out from under him on their first element, but he just wasn’t quite ready for her as she twisted down on exit.
They followed it with a throw triple Lutz, and she fought for the landing. Another lift was amazingly difficult, although not as graceful as others. A reverse entry, him balancing on one foot, and a flip out gave them some bonus points.
By the middle of their program, they seemed to become a bit more comfortable, but continued barely pulling off clean elements. They packed so much into their routine that they didn’t seem to have a moment to pause and breathe, to developè or enunciate any of their poses. The crowd helped out with their energy to keep their stamina going as the skaters slowed and began to close up. She almost didn’t make it up on the lasso lift.
Sheer will got them throw that long program, but their obvious disappointment was well-founded. This team needs time to percolate; they’ve developed their technical program and now must perfect it by concentrating on the subtleties that will smooth out transitions and convince the judges that Amanda and Mark are pros. Their score for the free skate was 101.84, which brought their total points up to 158.94.
Other Competitors, in Ranked Order:
Caitlin Yankowskas & John Coughlin, Naomi Nari Nam & Themistocles Leftheris, Chloe Katz & Joseph Lynch, Bianca Butler & Joseph Jacobsen, MeeRan Trombley & Laureano Ibarra, Kaela Pflumm & Christopher Pottenger, Katie Beriau & Alexander Merritt, Amber Wehrle & Nicholas Kole, Laura Lepzinski & Ethan Burgess, and Kendra Moyle & Steven Pottenger
