2005 U.S. Nationals

2004 Novice bronze medalists Emily Samuelson, 14, and Evan Bates, 15, led the pack at the end of both the American Waltz and the Kilian compulsories.

Samuelson, 5’2", of Novi, MI, and Bates, 5’10, of Ann Arbor, MI, didn’t let their height differential affect their lines and carriage. In fact, their upright posture is a key asset for the team that likes to have fun on the ice and project their enjoyment.

They maximized their unified look with well-matched costumes, one set of outfits in a silvery gray and the other in turquoise with a peacock look.

All was not perfection, as the good-natured Bates confessed.

"On the American Waltz I kicked the boards. I got a little bit of the boards stuck in my toe pick, but it wasn’t anything terrible. It didn’t affect us too much. We had a little bit of a wobble, but I think we covered well. And in the Kilian I just kind of lost my focus a little bit at the beginning of the sixth pattern."

The Midwestern Sectional champions, a ninth- and tenth-grader who attend school half-time and make up the balance with Internet courses and tutors, take ballroom and modern dance classes to hone dance skills.

Bates paid tribute to the strength of the seasoned second-place team, Weaver & Clavey, in maintaining that "it’s not like it’s over or anything, but it’s good to have someone like that pushing you."

Weaver, 15, and Clavey, 17, both from Houston, TX, found themselves fourth after the American Waltz but pulled up to second overall with a second-place Kilian.

An upbeat Clavey remarked, "The Kilian, the second dance, felt really good and obviously it looked really good. It’s a dance we’ve been working on steadily all year. It’s been better and it’s been worse, but it’s never been that good."

Weaver rated the American Waltz: "Even though it started on the off-beat, our dance remained composed and was nice throughout, so I’m happy that that really didn’t affect us."

What might have disturbed the couple more was a fall during the warm-up, but Weaver’s take was, "I’d like to think that it affected me for the better, because I kind of took down my shield and started feeling more genuine and being myself on the ice."

At 5’5, and 5’10 respectively, Weaver & Clavey use their more similar height to advantage.

"We’re more like one person," Weaver agrees. "Our height is [part of] a package that we have."

Her partner cites an advantage "in terms of natural speed."

Weaver & Clavey train in Newington, CT, with Matthew Gates and Eve Chalom.

Pilar Bosley and John Corona, both 16, skated a third-placed waltz and fourth-placed Kilian for third overall.

"The American we skated well, I thought," said Corona. "In the Kilian we experienced some problems. It wasn’t bad."

The energetic duo, who wore hot pink and black for their second appearance, admitted to a brief break in form near the end of the Kilian, remarking that the ice was especially rough by the time they skated last of the twelve teams.

Bosley, of Bel Air, MD, and Corona, of Blue Bell, PA, drive an hour and a half and forty-five minutes respectively to train in Ardmore, PA, with Christine Fowler-Binder. It’s a strenuous schedule for the full-time high school students who focus on-ice on edge quality and extension.

A new team this season, Bosley & Corona were noticed by coaches at a partner tryout two years ago that bore fruit a season later.

Madison Hubbell, 13, and brother Keiffer, 15, from Sylvania, OH, were second after the first compulsory but sixth after the second. Blake Rosenthal, 14, and Calvin Taylor, 16, of Newtown Square, PA, and Huntington, WV, respectively, finished fifth and third. At the end of the day, the two teams were tied for fourth with 8.0 factored places.

The Free Dance event was marked by unexpected drama when the second to last couple to perform experienced an injury barely more than ten seconds before their performance’s conclusion, forcing a lengthy delay and an extra ice cut.

Blake Rosenthal, 14, from Newtown Square, PA, suffered a fluke fall during which the blade of her partner, Calvin Taylor, 16, of Huntington, WV, punctured her left knee. That wouldn’t prevent them from ending the night as bronze medalists.

Explained Taylor, "There was a fall and just a mix-up of feet. It’s hard to pinpoint what really happened."

Medical personnel on hand in the arena closed the wound with six stitches while Rosenthal remained upbeat and in high spirits. Taylor’s mother later remarked with admiration, "No matter what, she never complains."

Fourth after the compulsories, the Eastern Sectional champions were sailing through complex moves to "Zorro’s Theme" from the movie The Mask of Zorro when the incident occurred at 10:15 in the evening, approximately two minutes and 25 seconds into the 2:36 skate.

The couple completed the brief remainder of the program before seeking first aid. Said Taylor, "I don’t think we really realized there was much wrong until we got up and finished."

Taylor, wearing a black Zorro costume with a red-lined cape attached to the back of the shirt, gallantly picked up his red-clad partner, dressed for the role of Elena, and carried her off the ice. Although shaken by the incident, he had the presence of mind to staunch the bleeding by applying hand pressure to the wound as he carried Rosenthal directly to their coach by the boards.

Later, in street clothes, Taylor escorted Rosenthal, still in costume, with her wound bandaged, onto the medal stand to appreciative applause.

As Rosenthal prepared to leave the arena, still in costume, covered up by coach Andrew Newberry’s sport coat, Taylor’s grandmother remarked affectionately, "She just got the mark of Zorro."

The mishap and subsequent blood removal by Zamboni created a tense situation for Kaitlyn Weaver and Charles Clavey, second after the Compulsory Dance event, who had to wait some twenty minutes to take the ice.

As Weaver narrated their experience of the episode, "We saw Blake come off, and we thought, ‘Oh, this can’t be good.’ So I went straight to Blake. She’s a friend of both of us. Then we thought, ‘This is our time.’ We saw blood on the ice and thought, ‘Well, there’s going to have to be another ice cut, and there will probably be a warm-up with it.’ So we kind of closed down. We weren’t too over-active or over-nervous. We tried to keep our focus during the whole time. It ended up being positive in the end. "

Clavey added, "Right away I felt for Blake. We’ve been competing against each other for such a long time. I know her pretty well. But then I thought, ‘This has to be about us, because we have to go out and do our jobs today.’ I kept my focus. Our coach Eve Chalom has some focusing exercises, feeling the flow of energy. I went back to that. [The performance] felt pretty good."

Weaver, in a bare-backed fuchsia gown, and Clavey, in tux and tails, interpreted music of love and conflict from the French film Amelie with poise and fluidity.

Said the supremely sensitive and articulate Clavey, "I study French at the University of Hartford, even though I’m only in high school. French 470 is my current level, so I watched without subtitles. I think it’s a wonderful movie. I do [receive inspiration from the film], even though there’s not a direct correlation between our steps and the plot line or anything like that. It’s kind of quirky and a little unexpected. The accents are partly on the off-beats. It keeps you engaged."

"During the program, I really experienced it as a series of events. You make beauty of a program, and I was actually quite sad when it was over, because I felt like I was really in it. It was just so wonderful. I had never felt that good in my entire life."

As Weaver summarized in describing a night that will be memorable for many reasons, "It was just a great moment for us in our skating career." The two plan to return next season as Juniors.

Ultimately the night belonged to Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates of the Ann Arbor FSC, who watched their rink mates Madison and Keiffer Hubbell suffer a freak fall of their own and drop from fifth in the Compulsory section to sixth in the Free Dance and overall.

Asked how one persuaded Russian coaches, Iouri Tchesnitchenko and Iaroslava Netchaeva, to permit a Ricky Martin medley, Bates replied cheerfully, "They picked it. At the beginning of the year they gave us our music and said, ‘This a program that we think you can perform well at Nationals.’ And we did."

The Michigan duo skated the fast, tricky program with great flair, dressed in shades of burnt orange and rusty burgundy. Their dance lifts defied naming and categorization. In one, Bates assumed a bent-kneed spreadeagle and gave his partner a ride on his thighs.

The program included a hydroblade maneuver. Said Bates, "We’re always trying new moves and stretches, for edges, to add to our exercises at home, so it’s just good practice and we get experience being flexible on the ice with hydroblades, spreadeagles, stuff like that."

Samuelson and Bates will return next season in the Junior category.

Pilar Bosley and John Corona, third after the Short Program, dropped to fourth overall with a modernistic free dance skated with verve to music from "The Red Planet."

Compulsory Dance 1

Compulsory Dance 2

Free Dance