The junior pairs short program was the final competition held on Tuesday, January 11 but this event was the only one held at the Memorial Coliseum today.   This 14-team field was slightly larger than the other junior fields due to four couples receiving byes to this competition in addition to the 10 teams qualifying from the 3 Sectional championships.

Mariel Miller and Rockne Brubaker represent the Broadmoor SC and train in Colorado Springs, Colorado with Dalilah Sappenfield and Tom Zakrajsek.  Sappenfield choreographed their "Romeo & Juliet" short program; their performance put them in first place after this competition stage.   Their technical element range was from 4.8 through 5.3 and their presentation scores spanned from 4.9 through 5.4.  They took home first place ordinals from every judge but from Kitty DeLio of Denver, Colorado who had them 2nd.  

"I think training at altitude really helps us as I didn't feel tired at all out there," he said.   Miller said, "I felt really confident because after being overseas there wasn't as much pressure. We were in our home country, which is really a comfortable feeling out there." This team completed 3 and ½ rotations on their overhead lift, the maximum allowed.   He said, "We try to maximize everything as much as possible." He described their program as the older non-movie version of "Romeo & Juliet.

The 2005 Eastern Sectional champions Chloe Katz & Joseph Lynch who train in Bellmore, NY with Adam Leib & Brad Cox skated to Cirque du Soleil's "Eclipse" which was choreographed by Jill Cosgrove.  They represent the SC of New York and finished this portion of the competition in second place.  Their scores ranged from 4.4 through 5.1 for required elements and from 4.5 through 5.1 for presentation.  This team garnered one first place ordinal, five-second place and three third place ordinals.  They executed a nice throw triple toe and side-by-side double Axels but their double twist had problems tonight and they were slightly off unison on their side-by-side spins.  She changed positions for their back inside edge death spiral. 

"This was our best short program of the season," said Lynch.   Katz said of the throw triple toe, "I had it this summer for a week, lost it for a few awhile but I had it the past two weeks."   They felt including this throw did have an impact on their good results here.  Lynch said, "It set the tone for the program and relaxed us.  It also felt really good when the double Axels were done."

Julia Vlassov & Drew Meekins are in their first year as junior competitors and won the 2004 U.S. Novice pair's title.  They skate as members of the Elite Skating Academy and train in Manchester, New Hampshire under the tutelage of Laura Amelina and Alexander Vlassov.  Amelina choreographed their "Picante" by Vanessa Mae short program.  They were the first competitors of the night but that did not faze this team. "," said Vlassov.
Meekins fell on their side-by-side double Axels while she singled hers.   Their ordinals ranged from one second, four fourths, a fifth, two sevenths and an eighth place ordinal. 

She was the only competitor wearing pants.  Vlassov explained, "I like to be a little different and we changed our program (back in mid-October after their second junior grand prix event) and pants seemed to fit this program better." Her partner explained, "It was a little difficult changing our program but it helped the elements remained the same with just changes to the in between choreography."  This team felt their other program just wasn't working this season.   They noted the novice skaters trial judging this event were using the COP system so they were interested to learn how they fared from that trial judging.

Aaryn Smith & Will Chitwood skate for the Broadmoor SC out of Colorado Springs, Colorado and also train with Dalilah Sappenfield and Tom Zakrajsek.  Sappenfield created an instrumental version of Rolling Stones music for their short program that includes "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Paint it Black."  This team struggled with their twist during the warm up but did it when it counted.  Their technical element scores were from 4.2 through 4.8 while their presentation scores were from 4.3 through 4.9.   Their ordinals ranged from 3rd to 9th.

Jenna Yount & Grant Marron of the Coyotes SC of Arizona opted for music called "Here Comes the Snake" which was choreographed by their coach Doug Ladret.  They currently sit in fifth place after some program struggles.  Ladret's wife Lara also coaches these 2005 Pacific Coast Sectional champions who train in Scottsdale, Arizona.   Yount's famous father is baseball player Robin Yount who is now part of the coaching staff of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Marron began skating at age 8 to play the part of a chili pepper at the 1993 U.S. Championships held in Arizona.   His father Hal Marron is an international skating judge and his mother Molly is a national judge.  They grabbed two third place ordinals along with one fourth place, three fifth places and three sixth places.
It was very close for the pewter medal with the decision going to a tiebreaker in favor of Smith and Chitwood when both teams finished with six fifths.

The junior free skate program takes place on the morning of Thursday, January 13 at the Rose Garden arena. The skating order for the top 4 (final group) will be Kate & Lynch then Smith & Chitwood, followed by Vlassov & Meekins with leaders Miller & Brubaker as the final competitors.  Yount & Marron drew to skate 10th in the skating order, which was right before the final group of 4 competes.

The short program leaders, Mariel Miller & Rockne Brubaker skated cleanly to "Pearl Harbor" for their junior championship winning free skate, the final performance of this competition.  Their program included a triple twist and side-by-side double Axels. Brubaker said of their performance, "I feel like our hard work has paid off. I think that's probably our best long skate this year." 

According to Brubaker, his grandfather was a huge football fan so both Brubaker and his father were named after Notre Dame's noted coach, Knute Rockne. This team is considering moving up to the senior ranks.  He said, " We definitely are going to push toward going to senior (next season).  We'll see where we are after Nationals, evaluate where we should be and go from there.  This team had nice position changes on their lifts.

Julia Vlassov & Drew Meekins earned the silver medal with their "Paycheck" soundtrack short program which was highlighted by side-by-side double Axels and a double Lutz - double toe sequence.   They also included a throw triple toe and had good unison on their other moves.   Vlassov said, "I feel like our program was pretty well done.  We could have skated better but I am happy that we placed second."  Her partner added," Our goal was to skate a good long program to pull up from third place after the short program and we did that."   One lift had a very effective off his shoulders exit.  Their marks ranged from 4.9 through 5.2 for technical merit and from 5.0 through 5.3 for presentation. 

It was not an easy day for Chloe Katz & Joseph Lynch who slipped down to third place after being second in the short program.  He fell on their side-by-side triple toe loops and she put her hand down on her triple throw Salchow in their "Scheherazade" free skate and their double twist was a little rough.

Lynch said, "We probably could have had a little better of a performance, but we are very happy."  His partner added, "We have been working really hard this year while going to school. It's nice to finally see our hard work pay off."    This team is considering moving up to senior level. "We're probably going to move up to senior if we keep making progress."

Keauna McLaughlin & Ethan Burgess of the All Year FSC pulled up from 6th to 4th in the Free Skate to take home the pewter medal for fourth place overall and they also skated to "Scheherezade"   They train with Jordan Bell and their choreography is created by Randy Gardner.

Arizona's Jenna Mount & Grant Marron dropped to sixth in the free skate round but finished fifth overall with their elegant "Sleeping Beauty" free skate.  Aaryn Smith & Will Chitwood struggled today and dropped from 4th in the short program to 7th overall.  She fell on their throw double Salchow and she popped on their double Axel - double toe sequence while he put a hand down.

Short Program

Free Skating