2002 U.S. Nationals

Novice Men

by Marcia Burchstead

Overall the young men seemed to struggle with the relatively easy double loop jump requirement and their presentation skills and speed were less than those put forth by the Novice Ladies.

Jason Wong took full advantage of the medical bye granted him by the USFSA. He did not compete at either the New England Regionals or Eastern Sectionals. He had finished ninth at the 2001 National Novice Championships. He drew first and despite his lack of competitive exposure this season won the short program demonstrating a triple Lutz/double toe loop combination. At the conclusion of his program he pumped his fist in the air and yelled, "Yes!"

"I was just so excited, I’ve been working really hard and it felt really good, I couldn’t keep it in me and I let it go," he said afterwards.

"I draw first (to skate) a lot and I do well (in that position) so it didn’t bother me too much," he said.

"I was nervous (about the triple Lutz), I just started putting it in and I was kind of shocked at first (when I landed it)," he revealed.

He began skating after watching Kristi Yamaguchi win the gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games but his mother thought it would only be a phase.

"I’m really nervous about being in first, but I have to keep my focus for tomorrow and skate the best I can," he said.

His ninth place finish last year was not, "too disappointing," because he had hurt his foot just a few weeks prior to the competition. He put too many expectations on himself and got over excited and, "I just fell apart," he revealed.

Only 5 of the Novice Men attempted the difficult triple Lutz jump in combination.

Coached by former U.S. medallist Mark Mitchell and former Swedish champion Peter Johansson at Skating Club of Boston, Wong, a 15-year-old, is a student at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. He received six first placements from the judges.

Robert Dierking, just 13, was the 2001 Intermediate champion. He skated right after Wong and also demonstrated the triple Lutz in combination with double toe loop and a death drop into a sit spin to take one first place ordinal and finish third overall. He used "Saber Dance" for the program.

"I thought I skated really, really well and I’m happy with how I skated," he said

Dierking said he took to figure skating, "like a duck to water." He signed up for a skating program offered by his school in Jamestown, N.Y. just before he turned 9.

Casey McGraw, coached by Tom Zakrajsek, had some difficulty with his combination taking a step out in-between the triple flip and double toe loop. His interpretation of the program from the score of "JFK," with choreography by Nathan Birch was first-rate. Good speed, nice posture and a variation with his arms on the double loop gave him two first places but also, inexplicably a 12^th from judge Patricia French.

Zakrajsek suggested the arm variation and McGraw was happy to oblige. "It’s good to be creative," he said.

McGraw, now 16, started skating at the age of 6 when his two best friends who have now gone on to hockey gave him a lesson coupon. He did not begin competing until four year ago.

Adam Baadani, coached by Mingzhu Li at the HealthSouth rink in El Segundo, also landed the 3 Lutz in combination but weak spins; there was no sit in the sit, and a slow circular sequence coupled with the fact that all his elements were done at center ice or towards the north end of the rink save the 2 loop, left him sixth overall.

Luis Hernandez, the 2002 Pacific Coast champion had an unfortunate fall on the double Axel but the flow, speed and interpretation of his music kept him in fourth and in contention. Frank Carroll coaches him. The serpentine footwork sequence and combination spin ending with a headless variation were especially strong elements.

Robert Dierking not only won the Novice Men’s title but by doing so he ensured a place for himself in the USFSA record books. In 2000 he won the National Juvenile championship and in 2001 he was crowned National Intermediate champion. Thus on Monday he became the only U.S. competitor in any discipline to capture those three titles in consecutive seasons. All this by the age of 13!

Dierking lives with his grandmother in western New York (Jamestown). He called her a good skating mom who watches him skate and doesn’t get outwardly nervous when he competes.

His father died in 1991 in Kuwait during the Gulf War. As previously mentioned he used "Saber Dance" in the short because of the local NHL hockey team the Buffalo Sabres, who unlike Dierking are presently lying last in their division. He has another connection to professional sports utilizing a former trainer for the Buffalo Bills football team for his off-ice work with an emphasis on injury prevention. He was, however, skating injured during the competition. His coach, Kirk Wyse, revealed Dierking had broken a finger two weeks ago while playing a game of "Hacky, Sacky" with friends and wore a splint on the finger.

Attired in a simple costume he skated to Paul Wylie’s "Henry V" music. Among the highlights of his program was a 2 Axel/2 toe loop/2 loop combination. The 3 Lutz/ 2 toe loop combination didn’t have any flow as he stumbled out of the toe loop landing. He did execute two clean 2 Salchows and a 3 toe loop.

Wyse said they, "like to keep the costumes very, very simple for Robbie, we’re promoting him more as an athlete than a costumed figure."

Dierking felt he had a chance to win the competition and told himself to go and skate like he does in practice and he would do well.

He didn’t realize that he had accomplished a record setting feat until told by his coach, who knew the possibility existed but didn’t let on to his pupil not wanting to place additional pressure on the skater. "Oh man I thought Parker Pennington had done that already, but ok, wow," he exclaimed clearly in disbelieve.

After he had skated three quarters of his program he thought, "I was pumped and I knew I could just go through and fly by."

His coaches advised him to scale back the planned triple-triple combination to a single triple because he skated first in the last group. His coach Wyse said, "We wanted him to put a clean program out there and have the others try and beat it."

He didn’t mind skating first because, "I didn’t have time to let my nerves get worked up but the bad thing is I also had to work through and get my warm-up finished in only five minutes instead of six and I needed a minute to catch my breath before I skated."

Claiming he is, "on a strict milk diet," Dierking planned to celebrate his victory with some soda pop. His coaches said they would opt for, "a Chardonnay or two."

He also expressed a wish to visit Disney Land with friends, "if I have time." Leaving Buffalo buried in over seven feet of snow, Dierking was clearly enjoying the balmy southern California weather.

He plans to move up to the junior level for next season

A very bright, personable and mature young man, hopefully the puberty bug won’t bite him as he attempts to work his way up the competitive ladder.

The rest of the final group faltered allowing earlier skaters to over take them.

Jason Wong was unable to hold his lead dropping to fifth in the free but claiming second place overall. He fell on his 3 Lutz and later appeared to land a 2 Axel but then it got away from him and he fell a second time. He demonstrated nice spread eagles into a flying camel spin but the final combination spin ended after his music.

His determination to compete in Boston last season, despite a serious foot injury did not escape public notice. Still in a cast during nationals he removed it to skate and then put it back on afterwards.

He wasn’t disappointed with his final placement saying, "I came here (nationals) without any expectations, I didn’t expect second, I didn’t expect much coming into this event so I’m extremely happy with second but I’m disappointed in myself, that I didn’t let myself do what I could do."

Wong attributed the blow-up in the free skate to nerves and loss of concentration and focus. "I’ve been working really hard but I couldn’t keep my mind together. I tried my best and fought through the program and still managed to do most of it."

Despite his many injuries Wong has not wavered from singles, "I thought about trying pairs but I truly love what I do."

When he was involuntarily off the ice he said, "I just had a craving to touch the ice and be out there, it’s what makes me happy."

Wong said he needed to work more on his mental preparation and strategy for future competitions and plans to move up to the junior ranks for next season.

His first coach, Carla Wilson, brought him to Skating Club of Boston when he was nine and transitioned him off to his present coaches, Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson saying she had brought him as far as she could technically and that he would reach his potential with them. Wong said they have worked on developing his mental confidence, "but it’s up to me to figure out what I need to do to accomplish my goals."

Wong said that the many hours he put in training and his hard work paid off when the USFSA granted him a bye to the nationals this year. If he can stay injury free for an entire season he should make progress with his level of technical difficulty.

Casey McGraw and Luis Hernandez unfortunately couldn’t live up to their short program results and dropped out of the top group. However McGraw’s training mates at the Broadmoor, Evan Gibbs and Jeremy Abbott picked up the slack and redeemed themselves after poor showings in the short to finish second and third in the free and pull up to third and sixth overall.

Hernandez showed promise with solid choreography and nice interconnecting moves and expresses the music well. Hopefully coach Frank Carroll can bring his jump technique up to par with the rest of his elements.

Gibbs had solid 3 Lutz and loop jumps in his programs to vault him onto the podium. Despite a fall on the 3 Lutz attempt Abbott kept the program with music selections of "Summertime" and "Caravan" together showing good speed and basic technique. Overall coach Tom Zakrajsek’s pupils did him proud.

"I wanted to show the judges that I’m ready to be a serious competitor not just this season but as a long-term thing. I didn’t expect to move up this much (in the standings) I just wanted to do my long program the way I knew I could do it and be confident with my skating," Gibbs said.

He watched figure skating during broadcasts of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games and would move the furniture in the living room to give himself space to practice off-ice jumps. "I was trying to teach myself how to skate."

He began private lessons in Phoenix, Arizona and then moved to Colorado Springs three years ago. "The altitude gives me a nice advantage, when I come down to lower elevations I feel it is easier to do my programs."

Short Program

Free Skating