2002 U.S. Nationals

Louann M. Donovan, a 15 year old representing The Skating Club of Boston, took the ice second of the eleven competitors. Dressed in red and gold, the 5’0" twice Eastern champion delighted the audience with a triple lutz to double toe loop, triple loop and double axel performed to the music Bolero.

"My dad and I found the music. We didn’t know Torvill and Dean had skated to it and initially my coaches, Mary and Evy Scotvold, were against using it. I had to persuade them to change their minds."

Donovan had been expected to skate well in last year’s Nationals but the pressure of performing in front of a hometown audience got to her and she finished sixth. "I had the triple lutz last year but it wasn’t so consistent," Donovan explained.

She got into skates when she was only five and was quickly playing with an all boys’ hockey team. That stopped about a year later. "It was too rough and I had just seen Nancy Kerrigan on television."

Donovan win in this section was fairly clear. She was awarded seven first place votes, one second and one third.

Felicia Beck of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club was second. She included a triple lutz to double toe, a double axel, a good, fast Biellmann, and a skate pulled to head spin. Beck was attired in a bright orange outfit and gave a very exhuberant performance to Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing. "I love to skate in front of people. That always come naturally. Right when I first stepped on the ice they were playing music and I started performing to it and playing to anyone who would be my audience."

Beck says she’s very committed. "This was my third year at Junior level. I was twelfth at Nationals the first year but then the next time I was fifth in regionals and didn’t even through to sectionals. However that made me more determined and stronger."

Beck started skating after watching Katarina Witt on television perform her Carmen at the 1988 Olympics. "I fell in love with the sport. I started skating in Dallas but then moved to Colorado Springs and then to Lake Arrowhead. I tried all the coaches there but right away I knew it had to be Christa Fassi."

Her placings, possibly because some thought the axel was cheated and she only had a low double loop, were all over the place. She received one first place, two seconds, two thirds, a sixth, two sevenths and an eighth.

Jennifer Don of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, who performed a triple toe to double toe, a nice double axel, a skate brought to head spin and a double loop, also received scattered placings which gave her third place. She received a first, two seconds, a third, three fourths, a fifth and a sixth.

Amber C. Czisny, a 14 year old from the St. Clair Shores Figure Skating Club who is taught by Julianne Berlin lies fourth. She drew to skate first and did a lovely double axel and triple toe loop to double toe loop to music from the ballet La Bayadere. However she made a messed up the double loop. Czisny was fifth in this event last year.

Kristen M. Sheaffer of the Starlight Ice Dance Club lies fifth and Adriana DeSanctis of the Glissad Academy at the Ice House in New Jersey is fifth. One judge thought Sheaffer was second best, and three thought DeSanctis was second best which shows you how weird the placings were. Katie L. Stewart from the Detroit Skating Club, who is in eighth place, got a third, and one judge thought Lauren K. Thomas from the Johnstown Figure Skating Club, who is lying ninth, should be fourth.

The judges were pretty unanimous that Emily A. Hughes of The Skating Club of New York (Sarah’s younger sister) should be eleventh and last. She was given seven votes of eleventh place and two of tenth after she fell on her triple flip, fell on the double axel and fell on the triple loop after landing it. Skating in light pink immediately after the second warmup, Hughes did do a nice layback.

Skating first of the top six competitors, she demonstrated she was really "on" by tossing off a fine triple lutz to double toe. Donovan likes to draw first. "Then I don’t have to wait and can watch the others." She continued with a triple loop, a triple flip, and a triple toe loop to double toe. Then, "When I did the double axel and knew I only had the triple salchow to come, I knew this was a good performance. I was so excited, and glad it was over."

Last year, Donovan was expected to do well but skating in front of a home town audience at Nationals in Boston, put extra pressure on her and she finished sixth. "I didn’t have the triple flip and I wasn’t consistent in my jumps."

To prepare for this event, she trained by doing jump repetitions. She had to complete five in a row and if she went down on say the third one she had to start all over again. "It was frustrating but now I’m pleased I did them."

Dressed in white, she interpreted music from Sleeping Beauty, a ballet she has seen performed. "It was the best long I’ve done all season. I did a clean long at Easterns but this felt good."

Both Donovan and Jennifer Don of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, who was third in the short, second in the long and overall are trained by Evy and Mary Scotvold. Don was one of the busiest competitors. She also competed with Jered Michael Guzman in Senior Pairs.

After completing her Junior Ladies long just after six pm on Friday, she had to get ready to take the ice to warmup up for the pairs long at 7:34, and then actually competed at 8:17. You have to give the 17 year old credit for stamina!!

Felicia Beck of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, who was second in the short, fell on her triple salchow and second triple lutz which meant she was only fifth in the long. However, she came away with the bronze medal. "I could have skated a little better but, after last year not even making it out of third place is excellent," she explained.

Adriana DeSanctis advanced to fourth place from sixth with a fourth ranked free while Lauren K. Thomas zoomed up from ninth place to fifth overall with a free that was rated third best. Amber Czisny, who was fourth after the short, and whose twin is competing at senior level, dropped to seventh with a free that was ranked only eighth.