2004 U.S. Nationals

Jane Summersett & Elliot Pennington

The U.S. National Figure Skating Championships got underway at 11:20 a.m. on Sunday, January 4, with the Novice Compulsory Dance event, held in the year-old Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia, thirty to forty minutes north of downtown Atlanta (and longer during the infamous rush hours).

Two warm-up groups of six couples appeared to skate the European Waltz in a splash of gossamer cornflower blue, red, lime, or teal, with almost all the men attired in variations of black formalwear. The twelve presentations of the classic but relatively simple waltz were pleasant and quite cleanly skated.

Lauren Capehart and Stephen Chasman finished first in the waltz, skating smoothly in elegant ivory costumes. Capehart later deemed their performance "really nice." The two were at the top of their game. Capehart, 16, and Chasman, 20, who train in Colorado Springs, met only four months ago, then quickly won Midwestern Sectionals to qualify for their first Nationals.

Jane Summersett and Elliot Pennington were second in the opening compulsory. Complimented on their soft bend of the knee, Pennington (no relation to Colin and Parker) agreed, "We spend lots of time with knees" during training. That paid off in a polished performance with some interesting choreographic flair that included his brief spread-eagle. The two 16-year-olds (Summersett’s birthday was Christmas Eve), who train in Marlborough, Massachusetts, have been together for a year.

Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates, wearing peach and taupe, displayed fresh energy and enthusiasm to place third in the opening round. The Ann Arbor-trained couple would later finish just sixth in the Paso Doble to drop to fifth overall.

The more nuanced and difficult Paso Doble brought forth a different sort of energy than the waltz, one best captured by Summersett and Pennington. After the event, sporting a top hat that his partner had given him for Christmas, Pennington laughingly agreed that the European Waltz is "a pain in the neck to do" because of its tedious repetitiveness. The Paso Doble, more to his liking, demands "much different presentation. It has to be strong."

Adrienne Koob-Doddy and Robert Antonelli placed second in the Paso Doble after a fourth placement in the waltz, in which Koob-Doddy seemed to be fractionally off the beat of the music. (That deficiency didn’t prevent the team from being among the crowd favorites.)

Koob-Doddy, 16, and Antonelli, who will turn 17 during Nationals, are an attractively matched team of similar height and coloring. Said Koob-Doddy, emphasizing the positive, "If you skate with someone bigger than you, you can knock knees." The team that trains in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, finished third overall and proclaimed themselves "right where we want to be," within reach of a medal of any color.

Elizabeth Palmer and Ryland Stucke, who train in Wilmington, Delaware, were third in the Paso Doble but finished fourth overall due to a fifth placement in the waltz.

Although fourth in the Paso Doble, Capehart and Chasman finished second overall. They agreed that their second compulsory had suffered from "more tension and less speed" than normal.

Summersett & Pennington, leaders going into the Novice Free Dance competition that will begin at 11:20 a.m. on Monday, January 5 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, drew to skate tenth, a position that suits them. They will compete to jazz and selections from the soundtrack of the French film Amelia.

Lauren Capehart & Stephen Chasman

Remember when placements never changed in ice dance?

At the Arena at Gwinnett Center following the two Novice compulsory dances, the order of placement at the top stood as follows: Jane Summersett and Elliott Pennington, first; Lauren Capehart and Stephen Chasman, second; Adrienne Koob-Doddy and Robert Antonelli, third; Elizabeth Palmer and Ryland Stucke, fourth; and Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates, fifth. Phone the press. We have the final results.

Not so fast. This is a brave new world in which the kaleidoscope shifts.

The engaging 16-year-olds who led after the second dance, partners for a year, took the ice confidently in costumes of pumpkin, tan and black. Skating to Amelia and "Tutara," Summersett & Pennington struck innovative, avant-garde positions, flowing through to the big finish. Suddenly, some ten seconds before the finale, both went down onto the ice in a heap.

Said Pennington, "We don’t really know how we fell, actually. Someone had tripped. I’m not even sure who. We both ended up falling, and we just got up as fast as we could."

The judges were not punitive. In the end, the free dance ordinals consisted of three thirds, two seconds, and four firsts for second place overall.

Capehart & Chasman were the beneficiaries. The Midwestern champions took charge, wearing brown and tan costumes suited to their Pirates of the Caribbean theme. Sandy Hess and Aaron Anderson were responsible for the team’s clever choreography, including their hydroblade lift.

"We try to come up with unique moves to set us apart," Chasman said. He agreed that he and his partner consciously skate in a European style. "Our coach teaches that – and all of the coaches that I’ve had before for dancing."

Capehart supplements on-ice work with hip-hop classes while Chasman studies ballet. Even after just a four-month partnership, that proved to be a winning combination.

Said coach Sandy Hess, "The goal was, if we only had four months, just to make it to Nationals. Anything that they did above and beyond that was icing on the cake."

Koob-Doddy and Antonelli had the worst luck of the day, dropping from third to fifth with a fifth-placed free dance. The couple, who make a point of choosing a free dance each year that represents a departure from their previous fare, offered a fresh, spirited combination of "Bad to the Bone" and "Johnny B. Goode."

Koob-Doddy dressed the part with a faux-bare-midriff outfit and a flip hairdo. Antonelli, her partner of five years, wore jeans, a T-shirt, and a vest. The internationally seasoned team performed tricky moves to the rock ‘n’ roll theme, and perhaps the series of tricks was what put off the judges. Koob-Doddy tripped slightly near the end of the program, and the team received ordinals from second to fifth in a fifth-place finish by a hair.

Elizabeth Palmer had been involved in a warm-up collision but hadn’t let it faze her.

"It’s our life. It happens all the time. During practice you collide with people all the time. You have to be prepared for it. You have to be prepared to gather yourself up, collect yourself, and keep going. It really didn’t affect me."

Palmer and partner Ryland Stucke, performing in burnt-orange costumes to a song from Gotan Project and music from Cirque de Soleil, were able to hold onto fourth place.

Emily Samuelson, 13, and Evan Bates, 14, fifth after the compulsories, moved into the breach in the third position. The watchable Bates, if somewhat undisciplined with respect to form, is tall and lanky with curly blond hair and an infectious smile. He and his attractive partner, who train in Ann Arbor, Michigan, are energetic and full of youthful enthusiasm.

"We try to put a positive look on our skating so people will enjoy watching," said Bates.

This week the judges were among those who enjoyed the disco-flavored free dance. Samuelson & Bates were accorded ordinals that ranged from second to sixth.

Compulsory Dance 1

Compulsory Dance 2

Free Dance