2006 Pacific Coast Championships

Senior Men

All photos Copyright 2005 by George S. Rossano

Only results from the last warmup group in each event are reported.

1. Dennis Phan (2, 1)
		Dennis Phan landed his first two triple Axels in competition here, one in the short program and one in the long. He was one of four men landing that jump in the short program, resulting in a hard fought competition. He trailed by just 1.39 points in the short program behind Nicholas LaRoche. Given he high quality of skating in the short program, the long program was much anticipated, but only Phan stepped up to the plate and delivered a respectable free skate, wining that event segment by over 13 points. In the long program he landed six triples and fell an attempted triple flip jump combination. He received decent Program Component scores, averaging in the low 6s. The main weakness to his program was the inclusion of four level 1 and 2 elements.

2. Nicholas LaRoche (1, 2)
		Nicholas LaRoche led in the short program but faltered in the long as did many of the men in this event. In the free skate he landed five triples of varying quality and fell on triple Axel, a jump he barely eked out in the short program. In Program Components he was rewarded for strong skating skills, but the other four components were limited to the high 5s. But in terms of difficulty his main problem was the level of his elements. In the short program he got credit for two level 1 elements and in the long program 4.

3. Jordan Wilson (3, 4)
		Jordan Wilson skated a dynamic short program with four triple jumps including triple Axel and a triple flip - triple toe loop combination. His was the only triple-triple combination in the men's short program. He had the highest element score in the short program (mainly on the strength of his jumps), but component marks in the low to mid 5s dragged him down to third in the short program. In the short program he got credit for two triple Axels. The first, executed in combination with double toe loop was decently executed, but the second was poorly done. Indeed, after the opening combination, the program deteriorated quickly and included three level 1 elements, and program components that barely made it over 5. He dropped to fourth inthe long program, but held third place overall on the strength of his short program performance.

4. Michael Villarreal (4, 3)
		Michael Villarreal was the fourth man to get credit for a triple Axel in the short program, his earning GoEs of -1 due to a poor landing on the toe. He also had a wobble in his change sit spin, which was called at level 1, and the landing of a triple Lutz. Four of his spin and sequence elements were called at level 1. In the long program Villarreal fell on an opening triple Axel, but went on to land six triples. He again had four level 1 spin and jump elements. Villarreal and Wilson were essentially tied in the long program and with the lower score of the two he ended up fourth overall.

5. Michael Peters (5, 6)

7. Michael Novales (6, 7)