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 Junior Men Free Skate

Disclaimer: I can't tell flip from toe. Sometimes I can't see a jumps take off or landing and have no idea what it is. Sometimes I miss a jump totally or don't get a chance to write it down. So basically my reports are only better than nothing. Unfortunately nothing is what ABC will give you.

The good news is that my sister is watching Marshall so I have lots of chances to take notes. The bad news is that the trips back and forth to my sisters is taking up all our non-skating watching time so we have no time to post notes. Oh well I hope you think that better late than never.

Joshua Uster

He started out with a double lutz, landed a triple jump, then did a series of ½ loops into I think a triple salchow. He landed a double axel, a triple salchow, and then did 3 turns into a loop. H landed another double jump. He had a flying sit spin and he had nice posture in the sit spin. He had good expression. He was 11th in the free skate and 11th overall.

Bradford Griffies

Okay let's see a triple salchow/double toe, I think. The Sports Arena had very bad site lines and I could not see the take offs of a lot of jumps. He had a nice camel spin, good extension. He did a triple jump, then fell on a jump, then he did a triple/double combination and then he did another triple I think, might have been double. Then he did a double axel, another double jump and I think another triple. He was 10th in the free skate and 10th overall.

Adam Aronowitz

Started out doing the doughnut spin, ala Oksansa Baiul. He did a triple jump, with an extra turn on the landing then a double toe. He fell on the triple lutz. Then he did a triple jump and another triple lutz, he had a very cute expression on his face when he landed that triple lutz. Then he did a Bielman spiral. He landed a double jump, but he had a minor stumble in his straight line footwork. He did a very, very cool series of ½ loops that included 2 jumps I couldn't tell if they were doubles or triples, but it was very good. He had good speed in his sit spin. He was 9th in the free skate and 9th overall.

Dennis Phan

he started out with a pop. Then he stepped out of a triple. Then he did a double/triple combination. He did a nice ina baur but just for a brief moment, would have liked to see more of that. Held on to a shaky triple loop. He did a spread eagle into a triple salchow/double toe combination He had a lovely spread eagle and back spiral, very nice line. He had an excellent flying sit spin, good height and position. He did a double lutz, a double axel and split jump and a triple salchow. Excellent ending combination spin, good speed and positions. There are these annoying pigeons that actually live in the arena, believe it or not. And one went flying right above Dennis' head during the program. But he laughed it off. I am afraid those pigeons are going to distract a skater and cause a terrible injury. Dennis was 8th in the free and 8th overall.

Dustin Brinsmade

He started out with a triple lutz/double toe combination. Then he fell on a triple jump. He had excellent position on his flying sit spin. He did a triple/double combination, another triple, a loop I could not count revolutions on, and a second triple lutz. After that second lutz he got a big smile on his face. He did a little hydroblading and had a gorgeous combination camel/sit spin. He was 7th in the free skate and 7th overall.

Benjamin Miller

My little boy has gotten so tall!! For those who are new to Cat' Lair I have been a fan of Benjamin since he was a novice skatie boy, he is a lot of fun to watch, he always smiles and always presents right to the audience. He did a triple lutz/triple toe combination and another triple jump. But my note taking was interrupted by the arrival of Marshall the Wonder Baby. So I have no other jumps listed for him. He did a military program that included a full circle spread eagle that was just gorgeous. And as always he had a big grin on his face throughout the program. He was 3rd in the free skate and got the bronze medal.

Matthew Lind

His program included an ina baur into a spread eagle and a gorgeous inside spread eagle towards the end. He is very expressive. But I am afraid I have no jump notes for him. He was fourth in the free skate and won the pewter medal.

Shaun Rogers

He fell on the triple axel. He had some nice dance leaps in his program. He did a very high triple, a triple lutz, another triple. He had good height on this death drop. He did wally, wally, into a fall on a triple lutz. Then he did double axel, another double axel, and had nice extension in his flying spin. He was 2nd in the free skate and won the silver medal.

Jordan Brauninger

He did a triple lutz/triple toe combination, then another triple jump. He did a pop axel/double toe combination. Then another triple jump. He did that cool move where you do a back spiral in a circle with your hand on the ice. I have no idea what is called, but he had good extension and it looked great. He did triple loop, triple sal, a double/double loop combination and then popped something. He did a split jump, then another split jump, then a double axel that he did extra turns out of. (Ever notice how it is impossible to write about skating without ending sentences in prepositions?) He was 5th in the free skate and 5th overall.

Nicholas LaRoche

He did a triple lutz/triple toe combination, another triple jump, another triple jump. Then did a back shoot the duck right into another triple jump. He did ½ loop, ½ loop into another triple jump. He stepped out some jump, I am not sure what. Then he did double axel/double toe but he fell out of the double axel. My notes say whoah, whoah, whoah. By which I mean he is very fast and jumps like a bat out of heck. Very fast very powerful, clearly the winner. 1st in the free, our National Junior Men's Champion.

Jordan Wilson

He did a triple axel/triple toe combination, had to put his hand down on the axel. He did another triple that he had to put his hands down. He did triple loop, an unspecified triple jump and another triple axel. He had a lot of minor bobbles and step outs throughout the program that really hurt him. With that one very clean triple axel he could have won if not for all the minor mistakes throughout. He was 6th in the free and 6th overall.

Copyright © 2002, Antoinette M. Aubert