Southern California Club Competitions

[Dave Amorde]

I attended the All Year FSC club comp last weekend, and have started uploading photos. The first batch is of Junior Lady Shanell Noji, with more photos of Marisa Sharma, Andrey Chua, Anne Claire Chua, Casey Linsey, Brittany McDonald, and Ashleigh Cahn on the way.
http://SWPSkating.com/shanellnoji.html

The Orange County Open is coming June 15 & 16, and will be held at Sasha Cohen's home rink in Aliso Viejo. The list of competitors has grown substantially over the previous two years, including a large contingent of Las Vegas FSC members.
http://orangecountyfsc.homestead.com/OCCompetition.html

Dave

[sk8termom]

Dave,

Can you give us results from the competition? Maybe Junior and Senior level both men and women?

[Debbie S]

I would be curious to know how Daria Grinkova did. Did you get to see that portion of the competition? Maybe you could give just your general impression of her skating.

[Sylvia]

Dave posted some of his impressions re. the All Year club competition in this thread on the Unseen Skateres message board:
http://unseenskaters.sparkleteddy.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?s=3cff91be7051ffff;act=ST;f=14;t=110

From what he wrote, it appears the Junior ladies podium was: Shanell Noji, Marisa Sharma, Jessica Perrino, Colleen Burke.

[Dave Amorde]

Thanks Sylvia :)
I didn't write down the results for the other levels. Also, I did not attend Daria's event. Besides - at this stage, she's just one of about forty girls at her level. I have seen the kid lately - almost mowed her down at Nationals - and she's quite cute. But, don't expect any writeups from me until she turns Juvenile, at the very earliest.

[Dave Amorde]

Results...

Junior Ladies:
1- [u:1bff416a02]Sandra Rucker (http://SWPSkating.com/sandrarucker.html)[/u:1bff416a02]
2- [u:1bff416a02]Christie Baca (http://SWPSkating.com/christiebaca.html)[/u:1bff416a02]
3-[u:1bff416a02]Alexandra Hill (http://SWPSkating.com/alexandrahill.html)[/u:1bff416a02]
4- [u:1bff416a02]Marisa Sharma (http://SWPSkating.com/marisasharma.html)[/u:1bff416a02]

It wasn't pretty, but it was nice to see Sandy atop the podium :) Christie fell on both of her 2A's, or she would have won. Tiffany Koenig, Brittany Nelson, and Mallory Morishita were all no-shows.

Novice Ladies, Group A:
1- [u:1bff416a02]Molly Clingan (http://SWPSkating.com/mollyclingan.html)[/u:1bff416a02]
2- [u:1bff416a02]Ashleigh Cahn (http://SWPSkating.com/ascah.html)[/u:1bff416a02]
3- Jennifer Fukuto
4- Colleen Burkhead

Molly and Ashleigh were wonderful. Jennifer was steady but not awe-inspiring. I have been very impressed with Colleen Burkhead at the last two competitions, and will be adding her soon. Unfortunately, I was not permitted to photograph at this competition.

Novice Ladies, Group B (not sure about the order):

1-Crystal Shum
2- [u:1bff416a02]Kelly Knight (http://SWPSkating.com/kellyknight.html)[/u:1bff416a02]
3- Tetona Jackson
4- [u:1bff416a02]Bianca Butler (http://SWPSkating.com/biancabutler.html)[/u:1bff416a02]

Very nice performances by all, especially Crystal. Tetona's jumps are HUGE. If she develops the consistency, watch out! I'm looking forward to adding her to my site. Kelly is maturing very nicely, and she's the sweetest kid on the planet. Bianca skated very well, after scratching from All Year with a knee injury. Rebecca Dornbush is out, probably for good, after tearing her hip flexor. Stephanie Holmberg is still out with a cracked rib.

[b:1bff416a02]Bonus![/b:1bff416a02] Inoue/Baldwin (http://SWPSkating.com/inouebaldwin.html) performed an exhibition that was AWESOME! This senior pair should be top contenders in Dallas!

[b:1bff416a02]Downer![/b:1bff416a02] Another senior pair, with international assignments, appears to be done. Expect a formal announcement soon. :(

Dave

[Aaron W]

Thanks for the report.

I'll be interested in hearing who split. The Rogeness' were planning on competing at Skate Detroit this summer, so unless they made a decision recently, I'm guessing it's not them. Stieglers? Ganabas? Just throwing out some names of senior pair teams out there.

[Trillian]

[quote:5e56d8e8c8="Aaron W"]The Rogeness' were planning on competing at Skate Detroit this summer, so unless they made a decision recently, I'm guessing it's not them. Stieglers? Ganabas? Just throwing out some names of senior pair teams out there.[/quote:5e56d8e8c8]

It's not the Rogeness'. Unless Baca & Smith have tested up to senior, that only leaves the Stieglers and Ganabas in that region. (Well, Phibbs & Patrick did compete out of Southwest Pacifics, but they're not located there and I know they haven't split anyway.) Between the two of them I know which pair has been commonly rumored to be on the rocks for the last few years anyway, but I'd be a little surprised if that was actually going to happen.

[Nickel]

A little birdie told me the Ganabas had split. (It's a pretty reliable little birdie.)