Cat's Lair 2002 Nationals Diary

Jan. 6-13, 2002

Cover Page

Day 1: 6-Jan-2002

• Novice Men Short (08-Jan-2002 03:01 AM)
• Novice Ladies Short (09-Jan-2002 10:18 PM)
• Novice Pairs Short (22-Jan-2002 01:11 AM)

2002 Jr. Lady Free Skate

With all the Charlottes and change edge spirals being done by our young lady skaters one thing is clear. If this is Michelle's last nationals, (and I hope it is not) we are still going to be seeing Michelle's moves for years to come.

Samira Banna scratched from the free skate. I don't know why. I certainly hope she is okay.

Lea Nightwalker

Opened with a nice camel spin, good spin. She did a double jump. Then she did a very pretty layback spin. She landed a triple/double combination, a double axel and then fell on a double jump. She did a lovely Nancy spiral right down the center rink and then leaned forward and did almost a Charlotte spiral. She fell on a loop and fell on another jump. Then she landed a double/double combination. She did a combination spin, camel/sit/layback/change foot/sit, and then an ending scratch spin. She has lovely arm movements and good line. Ninth in the free and overall.

Aanya Reiten

She is a willowy girl and she moves like a willow, all graceful and delicate. She started out with what I think was a triple loop, but I am not sure. She fell a couple of times I am afraid, but she is lovely to watch no matter the falls. She landed a triple toe/double toe, triple salchow/double toe, double lutz and a double axel/double toe. She did a gorgeous Arabian split jump that had fabulous extension. She has a beautiful layback spin and a fast spiral. She did an illusion spin. Seventh in the free, eighth overall.

Katie Stewart

Well I thought Katie was one of the most enjoyable skaters of the night. She had a really nice program with fun choreography, all sorts of little moves and dances that really bring a program to life and make it ore than just skate/jump, skate/jump. Katie also has a shining personality and great presentation. She starts out doing these pretty twirling moves with her arms sort of curled around, very nice. She did a double axel and held the landing edge very nicely. She landed double/double combination, a triple jump and she did a double axel/double loop combination with a couple of extra steps between jumps and a double lutz. She stepped out of one triple salchow and fell on another. She has a pretty camel spin and a great smile. I need a coat with very big pockets so I can smuggle in teddy bears for these oh so deserving skatie girls. Tenth in the free and overall.

Lauren Thomas

My notes for Lauren and Emily got smudged so I am not sure of a lot I have written here. She landed a triple jump, a double loop and then did a flying sit spin. She landed a triple salchow/double toe combination, and another double jump. She had nice arms in her layback spin, but the free leg needs work before she moves to seniors and Dick Button sees it. She did a single axel into a double axel. She landed another double jump, what I think is a triple/double, but my notes are hard to read here. She did a double salchow, and another double jump. She did two very nice Arabian splits into a jump, don't know what kind or how many revolutions but it was a nice series. Third in the free and fifth overall.

Emily Hughes

An adorable grin never left her face despite a pretty rough skate. Emily wore a lacy purple dress, but woven into the lace of one sleeve was an American flag arm band. I thought it was a very simple and very tasteful recognition of the events of September 11. She did fall twice according to my smudgy notes. She did a triple lutz/double toe combination, but two footed the triple lutz. She did a camel spin into a flying sit spin/y spin combination, very cool. She did a triple jump with a hop on the landing. She has a pretty layback spin. She did a single axel/triple salchow combination. She had a nice sequence of change edge spiral/ina baur/catch foot spiral into a double jump. She did a Charlotte and an illusion spin with her hands behind her back. Eleventh in the free and overall.

Louann Donovan

I wrote white swan, I am going to assume that means she wore white and skated to Swan Lake. She started with a triple lutz/double toe, and this was a true lutz. I got a clear eyed view of a beautiful outside edge all the way into this jump and it was dead on. Then she did a triple loop, another triple jump a backward Nancy spiral into a triple/double. She did an ina baur into a spiral that had good line. She landed a double axel, then a triple salchow and broke out into a big smile. Ended with well extended butterflies into a camel/sit/scratch spin. She looked like she was the junior lady most ready to move to seniors. She was fast and quite clearly the winner. First in the free, our Junior Lady Champion.

Jennifer Don

She is fast and always has a big smile on her face. She did a triple/double combination, a triple salchow that might have been two footed. She did a very fast catch foot layback spin. She did spread eagle into a double axel. Then she did a double lutz and a flying sit spin. She did a wally and then fell on a triple. She did a nice spiral into a Y-spiral and an ina baur into a double jump. Then she landed a double axel. She did a Bielman spin and ended with a scratch spin. Second in the free and overall.

Amber Czisny

She skated to Carmen. She started out with a successful triple jump and then she fell on a triple loop. She did an ina baur, with a deep arch, into a double jump. She did a sit spin and a single axel. Then she did a lovely wavy spread eagle, outside to inside to outside, very pretty. She landed a double lutz and did a gorgeous change edge spiral with great extension. She did a Bielman spin and then she did a reverse camel/sit spin combination, just amazing. She then landed a double jump a double loop and a double axel. She ended with a very, very fast pancacke spin. Amber is one of those skaters who could get a standing O by just spinning. Eighth in the free and seventh overall.

Kristen Sheaffer

She did a double loop, then she fell on a triple lutz. She did a double salchow or axel, yeah I know there is a big difference between those jumps but my notes I can't read. She did a triple jump then a catchfoot layback spin. A split jump with nice line into a double axel/double toe combination. Then she did a double jump. She did a dramatic ina baur right to a crescendo on the music. She landed a triple/double combination and did a hydroblading into a double axel. Then she did a sit spin with her leg wrapped above her head. Sixth in the free and overall.

Felicia Beck

She started out with a really great opening layback spin, very deep arch, great positions. She did a triple lutz/double toe combination, a double axel, and a triple jump. She did an ina baur with an amazing deep arch. And she did a Bielman spiral, great extension, for a half circle. She fell on a triple salchow and a triple lutz. She did another salchow that I could not count the revolutions on. She ended with a really, well extended Bielman spin. Felicia is very fast and has great presentation. Fifth in the free but her second place short program enabled her to hold onto the Bronze medal.

Adrianna DeSanctis

She skated to the music of Porgy and Bess. Started out by doing a waxel then immediately did a successful double axel. She did a triple salchow, and a triple lutz with an excellent outside edge take off. She did an Arabian split with nice extension. She is fast and has good flow. Unfortunately she fell on a triple loop and stepped out of another triple. But she came back strong and landed a triple salchow/double toe combination. She was fourth in the free and overall.

Copyright © 2002, Antoinette M. Aubert