USA Senior International (non-GP) assignments

[Sylvia]

USFSA has updated their International Assignments page today at:
http://www.usfsa.org/team/assign.htm

Here are the Non-Grand Prix senior international assignments:

Nebelhorn Trophy
Oberstdorf, Germany
SEP 4-7, 2002
Amber Corwin, Joan Cristobal
Justin Dillon, Ben Miller
Orscher/ Lucash, Quigley/ Cording, Spielberg/ Joeright
Gregory/ Petukhov, Navarro/ Schmalo

Finlandia Trophy
Helsinki, Finland
OCT 3-6, 2002
Andrea Gardiner, TBD
Ryan Jahnke, Matt Lind

Vienna Cup
Austria, Vienna
OCT 10-13, 2002
AP McDonough, Sara Wheat
Ryan Bradley
Goodwin/ Obzansky

Golden Spin Zagreb
Zagreb, Croatia
NOV 6-11, 2002
Scott Smith
Lady, Pairs, Dance TBD

[Scott]

What great news! I was soooo happy to see Orscher/Lucash, Quigley/Cording and Speilberg /Joeright getting an assignment ! It was interesting to see that not all the Sr. gran Prix were assigned, in particular Skate America is TBA for all categories. I wonder what is up with that?

[serpentine]

HI,
i posted earlier about the Canadian assignments for Nebelhorn. Since i am not familiar with the less known US singles skaters, would anyone offhand be able to say how they compare with the Canadian singles skaters going--namely Fedor Andreev and Nadine Gosselin? I am curious as to what their chances are for a good showing!

[Lee]

I think Corwin has the ability to be ahead of Gosselin, but then neither of them are the most consistent skaters around. I don't anything about Cristobal. I'm a little surprised that Corwin's still in the game after some of her finishes at US Nats in recent years.

How Fedor will do will all depend on how Fedor's training is going -- is the 3-axel consistent yet? Has there been work on the quad? I've heard/read some decent things about Dillon; don't know anything about Miller.

[mikey]

I thought Justin Dillon was not planning to skate competitively this season... Does anyone know anything about him?

[Marney]

Also, Ann Patrice got an extra B assignment, but Jenny Kirk didn't. Since Jenny is ranked ahead of AP, does that mean she will get another GP assignment?

[Cerulean]

Does a happy happy dance that Spielburg and Joeright get an assignment! I really like them, and if they can get solid side by side 3's I can see them going placing, plus they are such nice people!

Joan Cristobal and Sara Wheat are pretty lucky IMO that they are able to get Sr. B internationals, both couls easily have been left off the international team after finishing 13th and 12th at Nationals the past season.

It is interesting that the Sr. GP assignments don't seem to be set in stone, none for Kirk? I imagine they must be trying to fanagle for a final amount of spots.....

Amber Corwin has skated quite well at Nationals the past couple of seasons, and I think that she could definitely do well at Nebelhorn....

[Aaron W]

It will be very interesting to see who the USFSA sends to the Golden Spin competition considering those assigned will be able to get byes through Sectionals to Nationals. How many skaters in each discipline can the USFSA send to the event?

They've already listed Scott Smith to compete. If they can send only one more male, that's going to provide quite a log jam at Midwestern Sectionals in the senior men's division with Jahnke, Bradley, Pennington, Lysacek, Miller, Ward, Overett, Clausen, & Lee all major competitors. It would seem IMO a better move to switch Scott Smith with either Jahnke, Miller, or Bradley to give as many of the Midwestern men as possible byes to Nationals. Too many of them are too good to be missing Nationals because they're in the most difficult Sectional. Additionally, it doesn't really look like it would be all that hard for Scott Smith to place in the top 4 at Easterns.

[Scott]

With Orscher/Lucash. Quigley/Cording and Spielberg/Joeright competing in Germany at the very begining of Deptember I wonder what effect this will have on the Indy Challenge? These three teams would have been the favorites at that competition. Does anyone know if they were planning on competing there or is this new assignment going to cause them to withdraw?

[Trillian]

[quote:84a9456ef4="Scott"]With Orscher/Lucash. Quigley/Cording and Spielberg/Joeright competing in Germany at the very begining of Deptember I wonder what effect this will have on the Indy Challenge? [/quote:84a9456ef4]

My guess is that none of them will be competing, though I could be wrong since I don't know anything about the specific plans of any of these teams. If a Grand Prix spot were to open up later, the USFSA will still be able to weigh these performances (and placements) against those of the pairs at the Indy Challenge, and hand out assignments accordingly. Meanwhile, the likely pairs to show up at Indy (Hinzmann & Hartsell, Don & Hunt, Phibbs & Patrick, and presumably others) will have the opportunity to contend for the assignments which haven't yet been handed out for the "B" events.

[mkice]

I'm glad to see that these skaters are getting assignments, I'd very much like to see Amber Corwin have at least one solid year of competition with consistent performances. I was also happy to see G&P get another assignment since their second GP event was taken away when everything was finalized.

Thanks for the news :)

[IgglesII]

[quote:84849b4f4e="Cerulean"]Joan Cristobal and Sara Wheat are pretty lucky IMO that they are able to get Sr. B internationals, both couls easily have been left off the international team after finishing 13th and 12th at Nationals the past season.

[/quote:84849b4f4e]

I'd consider this a make-up assignment to Joan for the junior gp events she lost last fall while still the reigning US Junior champion.

Memo to Joan - DO something with this!

[Gingi]

Maybe I am out of the loop, but I thought she had retired.

[lisabelle]

no sara is still skating but she was off the ice for a while with a back injury.

[Breakdown787]

Corwin had a pretty solid year last season. She started off with a easy pre-season competition win, finish second at Golden Spin and medal at Vienna Cup I believe. And she didn't do all that bad at nationals last year at all. She skated cleanly in the short (why Liang finish ahead of her puzzles me), and did pretty well in the Free. She did deserve 8th place but it was a very strong showing for her and competition was a little stiff.

Very glad to see Gardiner getting an assigment, she has so much potential and is consistently overlook by the federation who just their love baby ballerinas. Little suprise that Wheat got a assignment but I'm glad for her. I hope Gardiner performs well and maybe she'll get that vacant spot at Golden Spin.

[cafelife]

Aaronw, thanks for an interesting post. I wonder why the Federation didn't see it that way? Not only are the skaters you mentioned the most competitive, they are some of the most exciting ones in the country (esp. Bradley and Ward).

[Sylvia]

Two new senior assignments were added on the USFSA site today (7/31) -- Rohene Ward got Vienna Cup and Lindsey Weber got Finlandia Trophy (dates conflict with their Regionals, so they will get byes to Midwestern Sectionals). These assignments are their just rewards for winning their respective senior events at Skate Detroit this past weekend, so congrats to them both!

[aolskater]

I know Louann Donovan was asked to do Golden Spins Nov 6th. Her JGP in Italy ends Nov 3rd. That would give her less than 3 days to travel, go from Jr. programs to Senior programs and skate senior for the first time. This was on Tuesday. I dont know if she accepted as of yet.

[Scott]

[quote:f8cf490939="aolskater"]I know Louann Donovan was asked to do Golden Spins Nov 6th. Her JGP in Italy ends Nov 3rd. That would give her less than 3 days to travel, go from Jr. programs to Senior programs and skate senior for the first time. This was on Tuesday. I dont know if she accepted as of yet.[/quote:f8cf490939]

This would seem to be an impossible situation for her. I think i would stick with the jr. grand prix as it has more prestige associated with it.

[sk8rzmom]

How did Lindsey Weber get an international of any kind after not having competed Sectionals or Nationals last year, and only has a win at Skate Detroit to bank on?

[Sylvia]

My guess is that the USFSA is making an extra effort to give as many of the JGP skaters who were denied their opportunity to compete last fall (and have not been named to the JGP this season) a chance to compete internationally this fall. This group currently includes Weber, Benjamin Miller, Matthew Lind, Ryan Bradley, Rohene Ward, Joan Cristobal, and the dance team of Kendra Goodwin and Chris Obzansky. It should be noted that Miller and Lind were both given senior internationals this fall even though they competed as juniors at Nationals last season (they placed 3rd and 4th, respectively, and would have been named automatically to the JGP this fall if they had not been too old -- they turned 19 before July 1st, along with Ward). Yes, Weber is the only one of the group to date who did not qualify for/compete at 2002 US Nationals, but she was injured at the time of Sectionals. She skated 3 consistent programs at Skate Detroit, landing solid double axels and attempting 4 different triples except for the loop. Her choreography and presentation also looked good to me at this point in the season.

[NiceIce]

re:Lindsey Weber getting assignments based on winning a non qualifying, local competition...since when is Skate Detroit part of the selection process???
Skaters are now being "rewarded" for a good skate there?
Interesting 8O

[haribobo]

Skate Detroit is part of the selection process and has been for a few years now. Same with Liberty Open/Wissahickon. And Indy Challenge. And Lake Placid. Yes, Nationals are important. But there are people watching at these other events too. Lindsey is a great talent and I believe she deserved this assignment (esp. since she didn't get to do her JGPs last year). Sounds like she was one of the best overall of all the senior ladies at Liberty and Detroit combined (probably Czisny, Drewel, and Park were the other 3 who were very good but Lindsey won the final round freeskate)...there were no senior ladies at Liberty that looked worthy of an international assignment, unless you are counting Timoshenko who skates for Azerbaijan. I'm surprised there are people out there who disagree with her getting this assignment.

[Impromptu]

http://www.usfsa.org/team/assign.htm

Goodwin & Obzansky have been moved from Vienna Cup to Golden Spin.

Moxley & Kirsanov, and Nussear & Gates have been added to the Vienna Cup.

[aolskater]

I was at the cape today and Louann is not go to take Golden Spins.

[iskater13]

Weber is past the age for JGP she is 18 going on 19, her age is not correct on the USFSA site. Maybe her assignment has something to do with her coaching change (carol heiss) Yes I agree she is a beautiful skater, however her past history is usually """on the injured list""".
I wish her the best at her international assignment...ps also i heard alissa just had a bad day at SKate Detroit, that is why she did not have a good finish, usually she is at the top of her group.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by iskater13
Weber is past the age for JGP she is 18 going on 19, her age is not correct on the USFSA site.

Yes, she is "18 going on 19" - her DOB is listed as January of 1985 on the USFSA site, while she's actually a year older than that. But she's not too old for the JGP. This season the cutoff is July 1, 1983 for singles skaters--anyone born after that is still eligible, including Lindsey. She will be too old next season.

I'd imagine the USFSA didn't give her a JGP assignment simply because they felt it made more sense for her to concentrate on senior events at this point.