North American Challenge Skate Results - Day 2 Free Programs

[KittyKins]

Hello again. I just got home from the 2nd day of the NA Challenge Skate. This is the Thunder Bay one. Erin so nicely posted the link for results on the Skate Canada website on my other Thread. Thanks. http://www.skatecanada.ca/english/results/current/2nacstb/2nacstb.html So, I'm sure they will be posting the results from the Free tomorrow.

I'll post the results here anyway, so that people get an advance on what happened today. I'm a bit tired to type all the marks tonight as I am very tired from sitting for 12 hours in the rink this weekend. But, let me know if you want them, and I will post them as soon as possible. The Jr. Ladies ordinals were all over the place. Quite the hodge podge. I'll post further thoughts in a response message.

Novice Ladies:

1. Sandra Rucker, USA (1st in Short, 1st in Free)
2. Lindsey Wilson, USA (2nd in Short, 2nd in Free)
3. Michelle Cantu, MEX (6th in Short, 3rd in Free)
4. Natalie Malone, USA (3rd in Short, 6th in Free)
5. Terra Findlay, CAN (8th in Short, 4th in Free)
6. Kimberly Matecki, CAN (9th in Short, 5th in Free)
7. Erin Scherrer, CAN (5th in Short, 7th in Free)
8. Nicole Trach, CAN (4th in Short, 8th in Free)
9. Erica Washington, USA (7th in Short, 8th in Free)
10. Paulina Leal, MEX (10th in Short, 10th in Free)
11. Fabiola Caraballo, MEX (11th in Short, 11th in Free)

Junior Ladies:

1. Natalie Mecher, USA (4th in Short, 1st in Free)
2. Hjordis Lee, CAN (3rd in Short, 2nd in Free)
3. Anna Peng, USA (6th in Short, 3rd in Free)
4. Jessica Dube, CAN (2nd in Short, 5th in Free)
5. Krysta Pouliot, CAN (5th in Short, 4th in Free)
6. Ashton Tessier, CAN (1st in Short, 6th in Free)
7. Lisa Dannemiller, USA (8th in Short, 7th in Free)
8. Ashley Lovasik, USA (7th in Short, 8th in Free)
9. Ana Cecilia Cantu, MEX (9th in Short & Free)

Novice Men:

1. Tommy Steenberg, USA (3rd in Short, 2nd in Free)
2. Matt McEwen, CAN (6th in Short, 1st in Free!)
3. Grant Morton, CAN (1st in Short, 4th in Free)
4. Joey Doud, USA (4th in Short, 3rd in Free)
5. David Weintraub, USA (2nd in Short, 5th in Free)
6. Richard Guy, CAN (8th in Short, 6th in Free)
7. Michael Dimalanta, USA (7th in Short & Free)
8. Tyler Bidnyk, CAN (5th in Short, 8th in Free)
9. Jacobo Montemayor, MEX (9th in Short & Free)

Novice Dance:

1. Pratt/Gilles USA (1st in Compulsory Dance & Free)
2. Mountbleau/Bisson, CAN (3rd in CD, 2nd in Free)
3. Joseph/Bagan, CAN (2nd in CD, 3rd in Free)
4. Lamaoureau/Mee, CAN (5th in CD, 4th in Free)
5. Copely/Wensel, CAN (4th in CD, 5th in Free)
6. Keating/Simpson, CAN (7th in CD, 6th in Free)
7. Hurst/Stoveld, CAN (6th in CD, 8th in Free)
8. Cepican/Lichtor, USA (11th in CD, 7th in Free)
9. Sywak/Wilkins, CAN (8th in CD, 10th in Free)
10. Samuelson/Bates, USA (12th in CD, 9th in Free)
11. Whetstone/Miller, USA (10th in CD, 11th in Free)

[KittyKins]

Oh, I see that the Skate Canada website WILL be posting the marks, so I think I will let them do it this time. Just check out the Link on the original posting of this Thread.

Someone was asking about Jessica Dube, as she is a friend, so I will start with her and make some comments re. her performance. Sorry, I'm not able to tell which triples, doubles, etc. too well, but I can give you my overall impressions. Jessica was in the newspaper today. It was a nice picture from the Short Program. She was doing a Bielmann Spin. Of course the article was about skating in Mexico (isn't that the way? It seems the pic. rarely matches) :roll:. Today she was wearing a cream coloured outfit with gold highlighting on the bodice. She had a fall in the same corner as yesterday. She had some great spins and did a very nice Bielmann, lovely! She landed some good combinations and single triples.

Hjordis Lee was very impressive. She seems a very consistent performer as her results in both programs would indicate. She looks like a doll, very stylish haircut, etc. She likes to wear dresses with a low cut on the back, and high in front. I liked her black dress from yesterday, with the pink rose at the back.

It's too bad Ashton Tessier did not do as well today as she was 1st in the Short. She's the one coached by Michelle Leigh, as we have been disussing.

Anna Peng from the US is a lovely skater. She was very disappointed by her short program result and came from behind to win the bronze. Good for her. It was nice to see her parents and her so happy, when they were all so crestfallen the day before.

Natalie Mecher, well what can I say? She was brillant and received 6 1st place ordinals in the Free (Anna Peng got the other one). It was nice for her to come from 4th place to win. That sure doesn't happen everyday, but I think it was because Ashton dropped significantly in the standings.

The highlight of the night was Matt McEwen absolutely stealing the show! Oh my goodness! He was knocking off triple after triple! He is a smaller fellow and is full of charm. You can see that the young girls absolutely adore him. He was wearing a red outfit tonight. He is an excellent jumper, has good artistic skills, and great spins. Quite the jump from 6th to 2nd!! Tommy Steenberg was excellent as well to move from 3rd to 1st. He has a real presence and makes eye-contact with the audience (rather unusual for someone so young). He had some trouble with some of his jumps in the Free, but his spins were very innovative. Some were done very a very low position on the ice which sure is hard to do. He's an upcoming star, no doubt. Poor Grant Morton who was 1st in the Short, but 4th in the Free, so wound up 3rd. He has great presence and you could tell that tonight just wasn't his night. Richard Guy had a rough competition, but reports are that he is very good also. It seemed that he wasn't skating to his full potential for some reason. I notice he spins clockwise which is always interesting to see. Four of the men had 1st place ordinals McEwen (3), Morton (1), Doud (1), and Steenberg (2). So again the ordinals were a bit all over the place.

The Dance: Well, I'm glad to see that there was a lot of movement in the 2 different disiplines. Lianne Joseph and Curtis Bagan have great presence. Does Curtis ever look like Fedor Andreev! Does anyone else think that? Anyway, they are both very good looking! ;)

Well, as you can see the USA grabbed all 4 gold medals, but Canada was a close second and a number of jr. ladies, or novice men could have won those disciplines.

It was a good competition which better skating yesterday for the most part. I enjoyed today as well though. I don't get to see many competitions here and also rarely to see one that most others don't. So, I enjoyed reporting to everyone some of my impressions of what happened.

Thanks everyone and talk to you later! :D If you have any other questions about the event, I will TRY to answer.

[KittyKins]

Oops, sorry for the typos! Think it's time to head to bed! :oops: I think you will be able to follow it. That's WITH better skater today for the most part.

[haribobo]

Thanks for the results and report, KittyKins! :) Sounds like a happy fun day of skating! Good for Anna-- she really has awesome positions and knows how to present a program as a full package. I haven't seen most of those other skaters, but it sounded like a cool experience for most. Good for Michelle Cantu of Mexico-- I can't remember the last time a Mexican figure skater medaled in *any* competition!

[Weegie]

Thank you so much, KittyKins! We appreciate all of the info!

[KittyKins]

You're welcome. Yes, I would agree that Anna presents the complete package. She is a very complete skater - good in all areas. She certainly is a dedicated athlete and I can see that her Mom is a great support to her. She takes it very seriously. She probably would have won the event if she hadn't had an off day in the short program. I think she knew it wasn't her best and so felt badly about it. The competion was full of that kind of thing - talented atheletes not being able to deliver what they are capable of. I guess all of that is part of the learning process and they are all very young yet.

[deanna]

Thanks Kittykins for all the detailed reports. I can provide you with some info on the BC skaters who competed. Leanne Joseph and Curtis Bagan in dance are coached by Gennady Kaskov, one of Skate Canada's coach consultants. Gennady has been working with Curtis and Leanne for almost 2 years and they have improved significantly. Andrea Sywak and Kris Wilkins are a first year Novice team. Andrea has lovely presentation. In freeskate, Hjordis Lee is the most gorgeous performer. She is a trained dancer and this obviously comes across in her programs. She is very balletic and when one watches her skate, you wish it could go on forever. Matt McEwan is a natural performer and has an amazing future ahead of him!:)

[Trillian]

Hey, Mexico's first medal in a NACS event--congrats to Michele Cantu! It looks like Mexican skating is really starting to develop, and hopefully this series of competitions has played a role in that. I'm really happy to see this result. :D

[Skatingsarah]

WOW, can anyone tell me what happened to poor Ashton, shes a gorgous skater her jumps must have been off. KittyKins did you see her skate what did he do? thanks
Sarah:cry:

[Josef]

Originally posted by Trillian
Hey, Mexico's first medal in a NACS event--congrats to Michele Cantu! It looks like Mexican skating is really starting to develop, and hopefully this series of competitions has played a role in that. I'm really happy to see this result. :D

I'm also thrilled for Michele! I saw her skate at the Chicago NACS event last season and was impressed with her skating very much. What an accomplishment. I hope that this is a sign that Mexican skating is truly on its way now! :)

[KittyKins]

Well, Sarah, let me check my notes here....

As I recall, Ashton had difficulty with her jumps and sort of came unglued after making some mistakes (falls) at the beginning of her program. It was really unfortunate as she is a beautiful skater. As I recall, she had trouble landing almost all of her jumps. Her marks, which actually aren't too bad (although I know she generally does better), would indicate the spins were great though considering the difficulty she had with the jumps. Sorry I don't have more specifics. I think I noticed that she spins clockwise, is that right?

She received marks of:

4.1 4.0 4.1 4.4 4.9 4.0 4.3
3.9 4.2 4.2 4.1 3.8 4.3 4.2

[KittyKins]

:oops: sorry, that 4.9 was supposed to be a 3.9.

4.1 4.0 4.1 4.4 3.9 4.0 4.3
3.9 4.2 4.2 4.1 3.8 4.3 4.2

[Polish]

Yes, KittyKins, Tessier is a reverse jumper.

Thank you so much for your reports. :D

[KittyKins]

Just let me know if you need the marks and/or ordinals for a specific skater(s). It appears that Skate Canada will post the marks on their site. If they don't for some reason, let me know. They seem to be awfully slow at getting them up. I don't mind typing them here if someone would like to see the marks.

[KittyKins]

I see that Skate Canada has the results, marks and ordinals for the short programs and CD listed. They also list the judges, etc. See the link in the above post. Guess we should get the Free program results within the next couple of days. I'm waiting for those as I wanted to make a positive comment about one of the judges, but need to check his name once the judges for the jr. ladies Free is listed. Until then! :)

[Skatingsarah]

Thank you soo much Kittykins, it's one thing to know the results but it is great to have someone whom was actually there to tell the story ;) Thanks alot
Sarah

[Sylvia]

Thanks, KittyKins, for taking the time to post the marks and your impressions! :) Can you share any additional tech. details on Natalie Mecher's winning free skate? Did she attempt/land the harder triples --lutz, flip or loop? I know she landed a 3flip at the Quad Cities club comp. back in June.

[KittyKins]

Hi Sylvia. I'm sorry that I am not very good at recognizing specific jumps. She certainly did land some triples. It seems to me that she landed all of her jumps, and didn't look like she missed any at all or was downsizing. The comments I wrote in my book were, "Great speed and jumps, put hand down once." Anyway, she was pretty impressive in the Free Program. I think I have to study up on how to read specific jumps. I think Debbi Wilkes has a book about that.

[KittyKins]

Let's see if this works. The following photos were in THE CHRONICLE JOURNAL newspaper from Aug. 22-24, 2002. I only wish that I had more.

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=viewall&albumID=48625778

[KittyKins]

Oh, just a note that the photos look best on the "normal" setting.

[Amy L]

It says I can't enter because I'm not the owner.

[KittyKins]

For some reason this site is not accepting the link because it is longer.

[KittyKins]

I posted on Fred's Board and you can access it from there.

http://www.fredwilliams.ca/board/messages/73.html

[Amy L]

I still get the "not an owner" message. Is there an option to allow everyone to see the page on your account?

[KittyKins]

I'm sorry Amy, I'm trying to figure this one out. I'll have to go to the site and try to find the right URL. It's the first time I have posted pictures on there, so I'm a little confused. Thanks for being so patient.

[KittyKins]

http://community.webshots.com/user/kittykins105

Can you tell me if this works? Thanks! :)

[KittyKins]

http://community.webshots.com/album/48625778eeLplM

[Amy L]

It works now. Thanks!:)

[LynRose]

I noticed that Terra Findlay had the best Canadian result. What jumps did she land?

[Sparkey]

Kittykins, those are nice pictures, but who is the dance team? It's not Lamoreux and Mee!