Nica Digerness & Danny Neudecker

(18 January 2017)  Nica Digerness & Danny Neudecker took the lead in Junior Pairs with 54.66 points in the Short Program, skating to the adagio from the ballet "Spartacus."

The team had a shaky start with a marginal triple twist, with two negative GoEs, a fall on double Axel by Digerness and then a poor landing on throw triple toe loop.  For the remaining four elements the team settled into a program with decent elements and a nice interpretation and nice relationship between the skaters.  Their average component mark was 5.99.  The team has improved greatly since last year when they placed seventh at the 2016 Championships at Novice, with component scores in the high fours.

  Second in the Short Program were Elli Kopmar & Jonah Barrett who trail by 0.65 points.  Kopmar & Barrett skated a generally clean program and had the highest element score, by 0.18 points.  Their components, however, averaged only 5.53, not much higher than the low fives they scored as Novice Champions in 2016.  They skated with some energy and personality to "Moraccan Roll" by Vanessa Ma, but not enough.  While they have improved technically in the past year, their progress in program components has lagged.

Elli Kopmar & Jonah Barrett

Alexandra Yao & Austin Hale, skating to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," currently hold third place 1.11 points back from the leaders.  They had the highest component scores, averaging 6.03, but were fifth in elements due to a fall on double Axel, and an error in their side-by-side spin.

Alexandra Yao & Austin Hale
Back inside death spiral in the less often used "down" position

Lindsey Weinstein & Jacob Simon are 2.18 points back in fourth place.

An Audience of about 300 was on hand to view the spectacle.