2011 U.S. National Championships Preview

The 2011 U.S. National Championships get underway on Sunday, January 23rd with the novice compulsory dances. Since 2008, the main event arena has hosted all of the competitive events for all disciplines, novice through senior, and this year that honor is bestowed upon the Greensboro Coliseum.

NOVICE

With many of the 2010 novice competitors moving up to junior, the novice roster contains many new names. Only two competitors from last year’s event return this season (Michael Parsons and Adam Munday) – both with new partners – meaning that none of the novice teams who competed last year are returning at this level. Twelve teams will battle for medals.

Michael Parsons, who finished fourth with Kristina Rexford at the 2010 U.S. championships, is now skating with his sister, Rachel. Rachel Parsons, the 2009 juvenile and 2010 intermediate ice dance champion (with Kyle MacMillan) has stepped up to the challenge and the Parsons siblings started the season with a bang winning the gold in both the compulsory and free dance phases at the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships. In fact, they have won nearly every event this season. At Sectionals, they posted the highest score of the novice teams that qualified for Nationals (115.37) and are favorites for the top spot of the podium.

In a closely contested dance event at Midwestern Sectionals, Kaitlin Hawayek & Michael Bramante took the gold, finishing 2.5 points over the second place finishers. Late last Spring, Bramante moved to Detroit to skate with Hawayek and they debuted at LPIDC finishing a strong second to the Parsons in both events. The team trains in Detroit, Michigan, under the tutelage of Pasquale Camerlengo, Anjelika Krylova, Natalia Deller, and Elizabeth Punsalan-Swallow.

Bryna Oi, a former singles skater, teamed with Mark Jahnke earlier this year and turned heads when they took the novice title at Pacific Coast Sectionals. While Oi and Jahnke work primarily under Tom Lescinski and Barret Brown at the Skating Club of Boston, they travel to Ann Arbor to work with Yasa Netchaeva & Yuri Tchesnitchenko.  Oi is the younger sister of former mens competitor, Curran Oi.

Ohio’s Holly Moore & Daniel Klaber finished second to Hawayek Bramante and have been skating together since 2006. Moore & Klaber are the 2010 intermediate silver medalists and are coached by Jackie Miles and Chip Rossbach. Though they are primarily based in Cleveland Heights, they travel to Detroit to work with additional coaches including Pasquale Camerlengo and his coaching team.

Elliana Pogrebinsky & Ross Gudis (pictured, right) train at the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy and finished second behind Parsons & Parsons at Eastern Sectionals. This is the second season together for Pogrebinsky & Gudis, who won the intermediate bronze medal at the 2010 U.S. Junior National Championships.

As mentioned above, Adam Munday returns to Nationals with a new partner – Brittany Schmucker.

Making their nationals debut are Grace Deissroth & Brett Mueller, Jessica DeMaria & Dean Miller, Morgan Grant & Luke Skala, Roxette Howe & Ryan Farmer, Cassandra Jeandell & Damian Dodge, and Jessica Mancini & Tyler Brooks.

Novice will be the only level at these championships that contain a compulsory round. The CDs in Greensboro are the Blues and the Paso Doble. Compulsory dances will be performed on Sunday, January 23rd, with the novice title being awarded after the free dance on Monday, January 24th.

JUNIOR

The competition at the junior level is fierce with 13 teams fighting for more than medals: three couples will look to earn the opportunity to represent the U.S. at the 2011 World Junior Championships.

Qualifying for the JGP Final — where they finished fifth — Charlotte Lichtman & Dean Copely are probably the favorites for the top step of the podium. The Canton-based duo is in their third season together and continues to improve with each performance. Lichtman & Copely’s free dance to music from “Beetlejuice” has showcased Copely similarly to last year’s Chaplin program. Having qualified for the Final, they received a bye to U.S. Nationals.

Also in their third season as a team, Anastasia Cannuscio & Colin McManus are enjoying their best season yet, winning silver at the Junior Grand Prix in Courchevel and finishing fourth at the SBC Cup in Japan. Alternates to the JGP Final, they did not receive a bye to Nationals and finished second at Eastern Sectionals, in a hotly contested event.

Relocating from Laurel, MD to Aston, PA to train under new coaches Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov gave Lauri Bonacorsi & Travis Mager a slower start to their season, and they had a bit of a rough time at the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships. The team rebounded with a bronze medal at their first JGP event and a fifth place finish at their second. They won the Eastern Sectional Championship (over Cannuscio & McManus) by a small margin and seem poised for the podium in Greensboro.

Anastasia Olson & Jordan Cowan are also in the mix for the podium. Olson & Cowan missed the JGP series last season due to a practice injury that required hand surgery on Cowan’s tendons, so their international debut was delayed until 2010. The team’s programs this season showcase their expression.

Six of the teams competing at junior this year were at Nationals last year at the novice level, including the 2010 novice champions, Alexandra Aldridge & Daniel Eaton. Aldridge & Eaton debuted on the JGP circuit this season, finishing sixth and fourth at their events. Their “Romeo & Juliet” free dance could propel them onto the podium.

Joylyn Yang & Jean-Luc Baker also debuted on the JGP series, finishing seventh at the SBC Cup and 10th at Czech Skate. Yang & Baker are the 2007 juvenile and 2008 intermediate champions and won the bronze medal at the 2010 U.S. National Championships. This is their first year at the junior level and the team posted a high score at Pacific Coast Sectionals.

Natalie Wojton & Michael Soyfer, who finished 11th at junior last year, return to the event. Wojton & Soyfer have strong compulsories, which will be apparent in their short dance.

Danielle Gamelin & Alex Gamelin represented Team USA at the JGP event in Dresden, there they finished 15th. The Gamelins were fifth at novice in 2010 and have since relocated to train at the University of Delaware. Also moving up from novice are Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter (sixth in 2010), Heather Buckner & Nicholas Taylor (seventh in 2010) and Madeline Heritage & Nathaniel Fast (ninth in 2010 – pictured, left).

Carina Glastris & Kevin Allison finished fourth at Midwestern Sectionals and compete in their first National Championships. Jenna Dzierzanowski & Vinny Dispenza finished fifth at Eastern Sectionals, but got the call earlier this month to replace Danvi Pham and Vu Pham, the fourth place finishers, who withdrew from Nationals. Dzierzansowski & Dispenza are also competing in their first Nationals.

Juniors compete the short dance on Tuesday, January 25th and the free dance the next day.

SENIOR

With five-time U.S. champions Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto retiring from competition and joining Smucker’s Stars on Ice full-time, and four-time medalists Kim Navarro & Brent Bommentre retiring to the world of shows and touring, the senior dance podium will look very different this year.

Of the 2010 podium, only Meryl Davis & Charlie White will be in North Carolina. The unfortunate training accident that has taken Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates off the ice for the season has left the event without its reigning bronze medalists.

The resume for Meryl Davis & Charlie White is impressive: two-time U.S. (senior) champions going for their third-consecutive title following a season where they won their first world medal and debuted at the Olympics — capturing the silver medal at both. Though their season debut at NHK Trophy was rough (for them), the team has pushed themselves technically and artistically to move beyond their boundaries this season. Their programs are constant works in progress. They dropped their original short dance to music from “Amelie” in favor of waltzes from Puccini and Verdi and are constantly making improvements to their tango free dance. Not surprisingly, Davis & White repeated as Grand Prix Final champions and are on the road to be possibly becoming the first World Champions from the U.S. But first, the road to Worlds goes through Greensboro.

So with gold all but a lock, the battle for the remaining medals is anything but.

2009 World Junior Champions Madison Chock & Greg Zuerlein finished fifth 2010 U.S. Nationals and broke through in their second season on the Grand Prix series, winning bronze medals at both Skate Canada and Trophee Eric Bompard, and earning a spot as alternates to the Grand Prix Final. After scrapping their free dance from earlier this season, they rebounded with a free dance to “Cabaret” which has been much better received.

Though they finished sixth at Nationals last year, the Hubbell siblings, Madison & Keiffer, won the bronze medal at the 2010 Four Continents Championships. Plagued by an injury this season, the team wasn’t able to perform at their highest level and was forced to withdraw after the short dance at Rostelecom Cup. The Hubbells have had a full season under their new coaches will look to perform their best in Greensboro.

Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani, who won the 2010 U.S. junior title, debuted on the senior Grand Prix circuit this season and won bronze at both NHK Trophy and Skate America. This landed them in the spot of first alternates to the Grand Prix Final. The Shibutanis have never NOT medaled at the U.S. Championships, winning silver in juvenile (2005), gold in intermediate (2006), gold at novice (2007), and pewter/silver/gold at junior (2008, 2009, 2010, respectively).

Also in the medal hunt are Lynn Kriengkrairut & Logan Giulietti-Schmitt. Kriengkrairut & Giulietti-Schmitt are having their best senior season yet. A strong debut in Lake Placid earned them the coveted remaining U.S. spot at the Skate America Grand Prix, where they finished sixth.

Shannon Wingle & Tim McKernan return for their second year at the senior level. Wingle & McKernan showed improvement from last season when they competed at LPIDC and won the Pikes Peak Challenge and Midwestern Sectionals.

In addition to the Shibutanis, four additional teams have moved up from the junior ranks. Isabella Cannuscio & Ian Lorello completed their first season on the senior Grand Prix series, finishing seventh and 10th, while Rachel Tibbetts & Colin Brubaker (2010 U.S. junior silver medalists) finished ninth at their Grand Prix event, Skate Canada. Also competing in their first Nationals as seniors are Katharine Ziegler & Baxter Burbank. Ziegler & Burbank finished ninth at Coupe de Nice. The fourth team is Kristen Nardozzi & Robert Cuthbertson.

Making their nationals senior level debut as a team are Ginna Hoptman & Pavel Filchenkov, Kyle Herring & Meredith Zuber (pictured, right) and Alissandra Aronow & Zachary Donohue. After competing for the past two seasons with Lauren Corry, Alexander Lorello is now skating with Katherine Pilgrim.

The senior event kicks off on with the senior short dance on Friday, January 28th and wraps up with the free dance on Saturday.