Skaters Show Talent at the National Championships

The U.S. Figure Skating Nationals took place last weekend in Greensboro, N.C. | Photo Courtesy of Carl Erfourth

Each event at the U.S. Figure Skating Nationals, in Greensboro, N.C., this year had their own stories.

For the dance competition Meryl Davis and Charlie White won their third consecutive national championship.  Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani earned the silver medal in their first year competing at the senior level.

This team actually earned a slightly higher technical mark than Davis and White, 52.34, vs. 52.16. This is a major feat for a team just entering the senior level against reigning Olympic silver medalist.  Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein earned the bronze medal and will be joining Davis, White and the Shibutani siblings at the 2011 World Championships in March, in Tokyo.

John Coughlin and Catlin Yankowskas entered the Pairs competition as the favorites to win, and they did just that. This is their first ever national title and they will be competing at the Worlds in March for the first time.

Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig, who train at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex in Ellenton, Fla., earned silver medals for the second year in a row. They will be returning to Worlds hoping to place higher than their ninth place finish last year.

The defending National Champions Caydee Denny and Jeremy Barrett, who also train in Ellenton, finished with bronze after a fall in the short and long programs. The most surprising of this event was first year team Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker who earned the pewter medal (fourth place). This was 15-year-old Marley’s first time competing in pairs. Brubaker, 24, use to skate with Keauna McLaughlin and won two national championships with her.

Marley and Brubaker only teamed up five months ago. She was also competing in the junior single ladies event in Greensboro, where she placed fifth. She may give up her singles career in the near future to concentrate on her pairs’ career.

In an interview with icenetwork.com Marley said, “I didn’t want to be that type of pairs team or singles skater that [just] does well in an event, that just misses the top of the podium. I want to excel at one event.”

Ryan Bradley won the men’s National title with a less than perfect performance.

He told icenatwork.com in an interview, “It was probably the ugliest U.S. champion’s program ever, but I love it.” Bradley fell on both his attempted quad jumps. He managed to pull through the rest of the program earning high points to earn him the title.

Bradley has competed at the U.S. Nationals 11 times, but this is his first gold medal. He almost quit in May after he received surgery because of a broken bone in his right foot.

The silver medal went to Richard Dornbuch, the Junior Grand Prix Champion and the bronze went to the 2009 U.S. Junior Champion, Ross Miner. These three will compete at the Worlds in March.

Jeremy Abbott, the two-time defending champion, had a disappointing skate when one of his triple jumps was down graded and he struggled on a combination jump.  Abbott finished fourth.

The Ladies National Champion Allissa Czisny had a similar story to Bradley. She almost quit the sport last year after a disappointing tenth place at Nationals. This year she ended up on top. The three top contenders in the ladies event were all former national champions.

Czisny won the gold back in 2009, Mirai Nagasu won gold in 2008 and Rachael Flatt won her gold last year. No U.S. women has been able to defend her title since Michelle Kwan.

This year was no different. Defending champion Flatt was only able to earn silver.

She had a wonderful short program, but her long program had minor mistakes, that took her out of the running. Nagasu entered the free skate in first place, but was only able win the bronze with minor mistakes in her program.

Czisny and Flatt will join the three men, two pairs teams and three dance teams at the Worlds in March.

Mandy Erfourth can be reached at minaret.arts@gmail.com.