This article originally written by Antoinette for The Hearthstone Press
In Juniors Stephanie's little brother and sister Tiffany and Johnnie are fabulous. They have very strong lifts and throws, a dramatic presence, and like their big sister great choreography provided by Oppegard. Sarah Berhardt is alive and well and living in little Tiffany, she feels the music with a depth far beyond her just turned 12 years. Natalie Vlandis and Jered Guzman are another young pair to watch, they are polished, powerful and have great speed.
Rudy Galindo's biggest claim to fame so far has been in being the pairs partner that Kristi Yamaguchi dumped on her way to an Olympic Gold Medal. The Galindo I saw in practice yesterday, was completely different then I have ever seen him. His short program is to Pacalbell's "Cannon" and he is very elegant, his presentation is great, and his jumps hit the roof. He consistently landed the triple axel triple toe combination in practice and if skates like this in competition he will be on the podium, maybe even on the top.
The best Sr. Ladies's skater you are most unlikely to see on television is Jennifer Karl. She does not jump well, so she will not be in the top six but her artistry is the best on the ice. She has an exquisite spiral combination, she is very musical and expressive. Karl performs a waving spread eagle that is worthy of Paul Wylie. Karl was Ladies's Junior Champion in 1994, and she is only 15 and has time to develop as a jumper. Unfortunately even with artistry such as hers you can not go anywhere in this sport without the triple jumps.
Skating is delicacy, grace, beauty, it is also power, strength and pain. While practicing Jr. Pairs skater Kelly Peterman falls and hits the wall, hard. The crowd gasps, the skaters stop their jumps and throws, a doctor and security rush out of the backstage area, the crowd is silenced. Kelly is taken of the ice sobbing, for a moment she is everydaughter, the crowd shouts their encouragement to her. Perhaps it is only a bruise, maybe is a bad sprain and she is out of the competition, maybe it is something worse and all her dreams are dust.
