US Pairs 2012-13 news & updates

[Skittl1321]

Exciting. Based on someone else's comment it sounds like she is flying through the tests.

[jkl]

Does anyone know who is coaching LeDuc and Leng?

[Sylvia]

Exciting. Based on someone else's comment it sounds like she is flying through the tests.

If they want to compete this season, Leng needs to pass her Senior Pairs test before the qualifying season deadline of Sept. 1st. ETA: And I believe she would need to have passed her Junior Pairs test if she wanted to skate up at Indy Challenge.

Does anyone know who is coaching LeDuc and Leng?

Serguei and Elena Zaitsev, it appears (they also coach Andrews/Anderson and "Divette"/Utah ).

[Rochelle]

Wow, that was a quick spread of the news. Since the cat is out of the bag on this one, I can confirm...

Dee Dee & Tim had their tryout the final week of June.

She tested and passed PreJuvenile Pairs, Juvenile Pairs, Intermediate Pairs, and Novice Pairs back-to-back (with Tim as her partner) at a special test session on July 5, having no prior pairs experience that I'm aware of.

Then yesterday (July 14) she tested and passed her Junior Pairs test (w/ Tim as partner) at the I/WSA FSC test session. She only started to learn the Double Twist on Thursday... which is required in the test.

It was necessary for her to pass the Junior Pairs test by today, since today is the last day for late entries for the Indy Challenge pairs competition -- and in order to skate up to Senior she needed her Junior Pairs test. Whew!

They will test Senior Pairs in August, prior to the deadline to enter the US Figure Skating qualifying competitions -- and will debut in competition at Indy Challenge with the Senior SP event (no FS).

[Rochelle]

Given this news, who all do we still have competing in Senior Pairs thus far this season?

Denney/Coughlin (S1 at 2012 US Nationals)
Marley/Brubaker (S2)
Donlan/Speroff (S4)
Castelli/Shnapir (S5)
Zhang/Bartholomay (S8)
Vise/Baldwin (S9)
Fehr/Biver (S13... or was that a one time thing?)
Denney/Frazier (J1)
Duarte/Grafton (J3)

Cassie Andrews/Nicholas Anderson (RE-TEAM)
Kiri Baga/Taylor Toth (NEW)
Lindsay Davis/Mark Ladwig (NEW)
Tarah Kayne/Daniel O'Shea (NEW)
Dee Dee Leng/ Tim LeDuc (NEW)
Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim (NEW)
Caitlin Yankowskas/Joshua Reagan (NEW)

Did I miss anyone?

[kwanfan1818]

[I]

Then yesterday (July 14) she tested and passed her Junior Pairs test (w/ Tim as partner) at the I/WSA FSC test session. She only started to learn the Double Twist on Thursday... which is required in the test.

[Sylvia]

Thanks for the confirmation of Leng/LeDuc, Rochelle - quite a rigorous and condensed testing schedule!

Did I miss anyone?

I think you've listed all the known Senior teams in addition to Leng/LeDuc as soon as she tests up. Fehr/Biver didn't compete until Nationals last season, so I don't know their current status (they have an official site and Facebook page, but no recent news about the team).

Byes to 2013 Nationals known at this time: Denney/Coughlin, Marley/Brubaker, Donlan/Speroff, Castelli/Shnapir (1-2 & 4-5 at 2012 Nationals), plus Yankowskas/Reagan (Cup of China) and presumably Davis/Ladwig (NHK).

[Rochelle]

Byes to 2013 Nationals known at this time: Denney/Coughlin, Marley/Brubaker, Donlan/Speroff, Castelli/Shnapir (1-2 & 4-5 at 2012 Nationals), plus Yankowskas/Reagan (Cup of China) and presumably Davis/Ladwig (NHK).

So that likely sets up Senior pairs sectionals distribution to be:
Zhang/Bartholomay (S8) -- EAST
Vise/Baldwin (S9) -- PAC
Fehr/Biver (S13) -- MID
Denney/Frazier (J1) -- MID or PAC
Duarte/Grafton (J3) -- EAST or PAC
Cassie Andrews/Nicholas Anderson (RE-TEAM) -- MID
Kiri Baga/Taylor Toth (NEW) -- MID or EAST
Tarah Kayne/Daniel O'Shea (NEW) -- MID or EAST
Dee Dee Leng/ Tim LeDuc (NEW) -- MID
Alexa Scimeca/Chris Knierim (NEW) -- MID

With that mix... and the coaches seem to discuss this stuff before the deadline... looks like with the current teams it'd probably be 4 Mid; 3-4 East; 2-3 Pacs as a best case scenario. But perhaps not. Will be interesting to see how that pans out.

And of course there is still time for other teams to split, or to form. Who else out there is actively partner-less but assumed searching for senior partners out of the experienced US pairs skaters? Andrea P.? Amanda Dobbs? Ashley Cain? Joe Lynch? Drew Meekins? Ivan Dimitrov? Not that these are the only potential people in the pool... Kiri Baga and Dee Dee Leng weren't really on the active radar for pairs, and Nick Anderson had been out of the picture for two years and not on partner search.

[Sylvia]

My list of Sectional possibilities based on the clubs the skaters represented last season and so far this season...

EASTERN:
Zhang/Bartholomay E/E - train in E
Duarte/Grafton E or P - train in M
Kayne/O'Shea (new) E or M - train in E
Baga/Toth (new) M or E - train in M

MIDWESTERN:
Scimeca/Knierim (new) M/M
Andrews/Anderson (re-team) M/M
Leng/LeDuc (new) M/M
Fehr/Biver S13 M/M
H. Denney/Frazier M or P (JGP) - train in M
Vise/Baldwin M or P
Baga/Toth (new) M or E

PACIFIC COAST:
Vise/Baldwin M or P - train in P
H. Denney/Frazier M or P (JGP)
Duarte/Grafton E or P

[Rochelle]

Thanks, Sylvia! Any chance you have a running list of the Juniors for this season?

[Sylvia]

Any chance you have a running list of the Juniors for this season?

We should know more after Indy Challenge, but here are the 16 Junior teams I know about at this time (not going to attempt Sectional possibilities yet! ):

* = ISU Junior age-eligible this season

*Britney Simpson/Matthew Blackmer J2
*Jessica Calalang/Zack Sidhu J4
*Jessica Pfund/AJ Reiss J5
*Madeline Aaron/Max Settlage J6
*Brianna de la Mora/Taylor Wilson J8
*Olivia Oltmanns/Joshua Santillan J9
*Audrey Goldberg/Joseph Dolkiewicz J10
Cali Fujimoto/Nicholas Barsi-Rhyne J11
Chelsea Liu/Devin Perini N1
Caitlin Fields/Jason Pacini N2
Alexandria Shaughnessy/James Morgan N3
*Christina Zaitsev/Ernie Utah Stevens N4
*Caitlin Belt/Michael Johnson (4th at 2012 Youth Olympic Games)
*AnnaMarie Pearce/Matej Silecky (new)
Alyssa McDougal/Paul Schatz (new)
Brenna Doherty/Craig Norris (new)

[Cloudy_Gumdrops]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMIopayN4c

Yankowskas and Reagan at Skate For Hope.

I think it was posted up thread, but you had to be an ice network subscriber to see it.

I really like them together. Obviously, there's a lot of work needed there (as with all new partnerships), but I really think they suit each other. They've got great chemistry. It's soooo nice to see Caitlin skating again. Ugly dress though. Not a great color for her.

[Sylvia]

Many thanks to legjumper for this video of Marley/Brubaker's new FS to "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (their exhibition at L.A. Open) that was originally posted in the U.S. Club Competitiions thread in Kiss and Cry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALGTtcu93U

ETA: Doug Mattis tweeted from L.A. Open that M/B's SP music is "Hernando's Hideway."

[Skittl1321]

ETA: Doug Mattis tweeted from L.A. Open that M/B's SP music is "Hernando's Hideway."

Isn't that the music used for the Canasta Tango compulsory dance?

[Clarice]

Isn't that the music used for the Canasta Tango compulsory dance?

Yes, "Hernando's Hideaway" is one of the selections for the Canasta. There are a lot of versions, of course. It's originally from a Broadway show, "The Pajama Game".

[olympic]

L/L - (Leng/Leduc) - I read their Icenetwork Bios: She is 5-1, he is 6-1, so I think the size difference works well. She will obviously present good individual elements due to her singles background ('09 Jr. National ladies Champ) and he already does. My only concern is he looks slight thru the upper body and seemed to struggle on lifts w/ Cassie at '12 Nats. But, I don't know if it's his build, or perhaps he and Cassie just lacked good cohesion / communication at that point. They split up soon afterwards.

Y/R - Their 'debut' was shaky but I now think this was due to the fact that they cobbled together the program just before Skate for Hope. I think they said it was put together the night before! I can't wait to hear about them from Skate Detroit!

M/B - Wow! This program is a big leap for them! So much more mature. They skate this clean, they could be '13 National Champs!

[TwizzlerS]

Yes, "Hernando's Hideaway" is one of the selections for the Canasta. There are a lot of versions, of course. It's originally from a Broadway show, "The Pajama Game".

This should help wipe away mental images of the Canasta Tango:

Sasha Cohen Exhibition Worlds 2002

[aftershocks]

Very lovely new lp from Marley/ Brubaker. Rain one season, Umbrellas the next -- makes sense. Looking forward to seeing more from them -- a great pair!

[madm]

Yes, "Hernando's Hideaway" is one of the selections for the Canasta. There are a lot of versions, of course. It's originally from a Broadway show, "The Pajama Game".

I recall seeing Amanda Luchau and Andrew Speroff skating their Novice Pair SP to Hernando's Hideaway in 2007. It is great music!

[aka_gerbil]

Many thanks to legjumper for this video of Marley/Brubaker's new FS to "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (their exhibition at L.A. Open) that was originally posted in the U.S. Club Competitiions thread in Kiss and Cry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALGTtcu93U

ETA: Doug Mattis tweeted from L.A. Open that M/B's SP music is "Hernando's Hideway."

I just watched and cannot wait to see this fully trained later on in the season. It's a beautiful program, IMO.