Alexa Scimeca & Christopher Knierim

Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier

Marissa Castelli & Mervin Tran

All Photos © 2015 George Rossano

(10 February 2015)  Of 12 couples who competed in the Senior Pairs competition at the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, only five teams, led by the 2014 pewter medalists, Alexa Scimeca & Christopher Knierim, returned to skate this year. Joining the five returning teams were four new teams, formed by members of teams that had split up, either due to retirement of one of the members, or due to differences known only to the couples involved, and three teams just up from the junior ranks. The twelve teams combined to produce an excellent night of skating, led by the U.S. record-setting performance of Scimeca & Knierim, who earned 74.01 points for their performance to an instrumental version of "El Tango de Roxanne" from the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack, choreographed by Julie Marcotte.

Motivated by the absence of the top three teams from last year’s U.S. Championships, all the couples competing had made extra efforts to seize those n top positions. Scimeca & Knierim and their coaches, Dalilah Sappenfield and Larry Ibarra, sought the help of singles coach Tom Zakrajsek to improve their triple Salchow jumps, and the assistance of a Cirque du Soleil choreographer to improve the intricacy of their lifts. Finally, they went to Canadian choreographer Julie Marcotte to obtain a more interesting, intricate look to their choreography. The result was a special program that contained the duo's trademark immense level 3 triple twist, a well landed pair of side-by-side triple Salchows, a huge throw triple flip entered from a dance lift, the improved version of their level 4 hip lift, which now includes a flip by Scimeca into Knierim's lap as a dismount, a level 4 step sequence and a level 4 forward inside death spiral. The couple received huge positive grades of execution for every element, including twenty-four +3's.

Scimeca & Knierim led by well over five points going into the free skate, and it was a new experience for the team. As Scimeca commented, " It's nice to go into a free skate with a great short. It's actually something that we have not been able to do this season. The shorts have actually been not so wonderful. So it's definitely been motivating, and a bit reassuring that we're trained and ready."

The team plans a quad twist for the free skate. Christopher assured the press, “It’s in the program no matter what. If we were coming into the long program in last place, we'd still be doing it. If this was Sectionals, we'd still be doing it. There's no reason for us not to do it. We want it for next year. We want it for Worlds and Four Continents, if we get the opportunity to make those this year. I mean, there's no pressure to do it in the long program because of us being in first in the short program; ... the long program's where you get down to business pretty much, and we're excited to do it."

Scimeca confirmed Knierim's comment, "Yeah. I think it's great that we have a lead in the short, but by no means does it mean that the long doesn't have to be spectacular as well. So as soon as this is over, we're going to start focusing on that."

In second place with a score of 68.38 points are the team that just had the best Grand Prix season for an American pair team since 2008, Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier. The 2013 Junior World Champions are formidable competitors, with a silver medal at 2014 Skate America, a win at the 2014 Lombardia Trophy, another silver at the 2014 Skate Canada Autumn Classic, and a fourth place finish at 2014 Rostelecom Cup. Like Scimeca & Knierim, all of Denney & Frazier's elements received positive grades of execution, but it was not enough to approach the top team's score. Denney & Frazier have been working on the finish and style of their elements, and striving to produce a more adult look on the ice. They succeeded in both those goals, skating a complex program, passionately delivered, to "Speak Softly Love" by Andy Williams from "The Godfather" soundtrack, choreographed by their coaches John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana, assisted by Ingo Steuer who has recently joined their coaching team.

The duo showed a great deal of confidence, performing their two of their hardest elements, a throw triple loop and their side-by-side triple Salchows, directly in front of the judges, where any flaws could have been easily seen. There were none. Nor were there any slip-ups in their beautifully synchronized level camel combination spins, their level 3 step sequence, nor their level 4 forward inside death spiral, but it was not enough to take the lead. But as Frazier affirmed, "We're proud with how we performed tonight."

Denney remarked, when asked what the best part of Nationals was, " The best part is performing in front of a crowd. That's so exciting for us. Even the worst parts, you get to learn from them."

After winning their second U.S. Nationals senior pairs title and a bronze medal in the Team Event in the Olympics in Sochi, Marissa Castelli and her partner Simon Shnapir broke up but soon formed new pair teams. Castelli joined with Canadian Mervin Tran, who with his partner Naomi Takahashi won the 2012 World bronze medal in pairs. Castelli & Shnapir were known for huge, even explosive, elements; Tran & Takahashi for exquisite positions, beautiful stroking, and a lyrical touch. One of the more interesting questions asked before the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championships was how would those two different styles mesh? Marissa Castelli & Mervin Tran answered that question. The new team earned third place and 64.24 points for an oh-so-smooth, sultry, seamless short program skated with effortless speed to "Summertime" by George Gershwin and showed they belong together. In a shockingly short time, the couple has developed real chemistry. The program was as good for the team as it was for the audience, “It felt wonderful, like getting through, near the end, I remember thinking, I feel really good in my knees. This is not usual, “said Tran.

Castelli agreed, "It's honestly been great. Mervin's been great. We've been really learning off each other. I'll bring something to the table, and he'll bring it, and we'll put it together and make it something new. We're just excited to be together and skating for the US."

The team showed a big level 2 triple twist with a delay in it, a pair of triple Salchows landed right with the music, a huge throw triple Salchow, an intricate, intertwining level 4 step sequence, a level 4 hip lift that showcased Castelli's flexibility, and ended with a forward inside death spiral entered somehow from a dance lift into a cartwheel dismount into a shoot the duck. Their only problem was a slight loss of unison at the end of the level 4 flying combination sit spin.

When asked about the team’s plans for the free skate, Tran replied, “We're just really focused on ourselves this competition. We started up, we just got our free program in August, It's just been a short journey to be here at this caliber; we're really just focused on putting in a good performance.”

There are still logistical problems ahead for Castelli & Tran. Mixing their training regimen between Montreal, where they train with Bruno Marcotte and Richard Gauthier, and Boston, where they are coached by Bobby Martin, can't be easy. And the team still has months to wait before they will be allowed to skate for the United States. Tran verified that the team will be able to represent the U.S. after June, "I have an email that from Skate Canada saying that they'll release me in June."

Tarah Kayne & Daniel O'Shea's journey to U.S. Nationals this season has not been easy. Kayne, 21, underwent surgery in July 2014 to repair an injury to her right hip, a labrum tear, an injury that cost the couple a lot of training time. To add to their difficulties, in the warm-up, O'Shea collided with Madeline Aaron, but the team shook off the effects of the crash to skate well and post a score of 61.56 points, making one of their coaches, Amanda Evora, tear up with pride in the Kiss and Cry. Skating to Coach Jim Peterson's choreography to "Your Song" by Ewan McGregor, the 2014 Four Continents silver medalists landed lovely side-by-side triple Salchows. There were a few flaws in the Floridians’ routine, but the team fought through all difficulties: the slightly rough landing on their level 1 triple twist, a tiny break at the waist by Kayne, when landing the throw triple loop, and a loss of unison during their level 4 flying camel combination spin. Their level 4 step sequence was joyous, with a split jump accentuating a high point in the music, one of the really effective uses of lyrics in the competition. As they clutched a large teddy bear and a ball-shaped panda stuffed animal in the Kiss and Cry, Kayne & O'Shea had to know a good score was coming. And it did.

The new team of Gretchen Donlan & Nathan Bartholomay managed a fifth place score of 59.81 points, despite an eight week interruption in training while Bartholomay recovered from an operation for bone spurs. When interviewed before the competition, Donlan claimed her greatest accomplishment was turning orange from eating too many carrots. She may be reconsidering that claim. Both Donlan and Bartholomay landed their triple toe loops, a skill that has never been strong for Donlan. Skating to "Dear Father" by Neil Diamond from "The Jonathan Livingston Seagull" soundtrack, with choreography by their coach Jim Peterson, Donlan & Bartholomay flowed across the ice smoothly, but did not seem to have quite the speed of higher placed teams. The team opened with a level 2 triple twist and their triple toes, a dance lift followed by a throw triple Salchow, which gave Donlan some problems on the landing, a level 4 sequence that seemed rather slow, a level 4 hip lift, nicely phrased to the music, and a well synchronized level 4 spin.

The sixth place team, Jessica Calalang & Zack Sidhu, who are coached by Todd Sand, Jenny Meno, and Christine Binder, skated to "My One and Only" by George and Ira Gershwin, to choreography by Pasquale Camerlengo. The team had a very encouraging fall season, winning the bronze medal for the overall ISU Challenger Series, a silver medal from the U.S. International Classic in Salt Lake, and a bronze medal from the Autumn Classic in Canada. The duo scored 58.75 points for their program. The best element in the program was a throw triple flip with good height, distance, and flow on the landing. Sidhu stepped out of the landing on the side-by-side triple Salchow, but the team produced a level 2 triple twist with admirable height, a level 4 flying sit spin combination with some unison issues partially due to the difficulty of executing synchronized jumps in the middle of the spin, a level 4 hip lift, a level 4 step sequence, and a level 3 forward inside death spiral.

The 2014 U.S. Junior Pairs champions, Madeline Aaron & Max Settlage, scored 56.45 points in the short program and are currently in seventh place. The ballet-trained Aaron, age 20, and Settlage, age 22, skated to music from “Coppelia" by Léo Delibes, bringing to life choreographer Julie Marcotte’s vision of the ballet about a doll come to life. The team, who are coached by Dalilah Sappenfield and Larry Ibarra, had an up and down type of performance. Their first element was a high quality level 3 triple twist, followed by a throw triple loop, where Aaron pitched slightly forward on the landing, followed by a level 4 hip lift. Settlage fell on the triple Salchow. The pair finished the routime with a level four spin with mostly good unison, a level 4 step sequence, and a level three inside death spiral.

Eighth place went to the newly formed pair of DeeDee Leng & Simon Shnapir with a score of 55.03 points. The team, who is coached by Bobby Martin and Carrie Wall, Shnapir’s long time pair coaches, were happy with their relatively clean performance, as two-time U.S. champion Shnapir explained to interviewer Michael Weiss, “I think we put out a good short program here. We had a couple of little blunders here, a little mistake. All in all, where we are in the season, for the time we've been together, which is barely six months, I think we're definitely happy with our performance.”

The only real blunder, and the only element for which the duo earned negative GOE’s, was a step out by Shnapir on the side-by-side triple Salchows. However, the duo chose to do a level 2 double twist rather than a triple twist, and they were as yet unable to earn more than level 2 for the step sequence and level one for the forward inside death spiral. Shnapir & Leng showed admirable unison in their level three flying camel combination spin for a couple that has only been a team since May 2014, and performed a very strong level 4 hip lift at the end of the program.

The pair’s best element was a huge throw triple Salchow. When asked about the logistics of rejoining his partner after such a throw, Shnapir admitted, “I mean it's like the choreography calls on me to chase her down, but sometimes I throw her so far, I just like stand there, ‘You're on your own. I'll just stand here with my front row seat.’”

Leng, who finished in seventh place last year with her previous partner Timothy Le Duc, described the sensation this way, “Awesome! Super awesome! I look forward to it every day.” Perhaps next year, the throw will be a quadruple.

Former Israeli pairs champion Anya Davidovich & AJ Reiss are in ninth place with 49.69 points. Davidovich and her former partner Evgeni Krasnopolski split up following their last skate at the 2014 Olympics. Davidovich, who is 17, and Reiss, who is 22, are coached by Peter Oppegard. The couple who only became a team recently are still acquiring senior level pair skills and do not skate as fast as the teams that finished ahead of them. Reiss fell on a triple toe loop, and Davidovich under-rotated hers. Davidovich and Reiss’s best skill was a level 3 forward inside death spiral.

A score of 47.51 points earned tenth place for Alexandria Shaughnessy & James Morgan. Shaughnessy fractured her jaw in late August, and the team had relatively little training time this season as a result. The students of Bobby Martin and Carrie Wall skated an entertaining routine to the “Grease” soundtrack, choreographed by Julie Marcotte and Sheryl Franks, with accurate representations of 1950’s dance moves. The pair earned a low technical score because Shaugnessy fell on a double Axel and the team only attempted a double twist. However, the duo completed a good level 4 hip lift, a smooth throw triple Salchow, a level 3 step sequence, and a level 3 forward inside death spiral for positive GOE’s.

A team newly up from the junior ranks, Olivia Oltmanns & Joshua Santillan, placed eleventh in the short program with 41.13 points. The team’s skills are not yet at senior level, but the duo had errors, too. Oltmanns doubled an attempted side-by-side triple Salchow and fell on a throw triple Salchow.

The twelfth place is held by Cali Fujimoto & Nicholas Barsi-Rhyne, another team that is new to the senior ranks this season. The pair attempted side-by-side double Axels for their solo jump, but since one of the team singled the Axel, they received no credit at all for the element. Fujimoto, who is suffering from the flu, also stepped out of the throw triple Salchow. The highlight of their routine was their well-executed opening level 4 forward inside death spiral.