US skaters with Byes to Nationals 2013

[haribobo]

TOP 5-

LADIES- Ashley Wagner, Alissa Czisny, Agnes Zawadzki, Caroline Zhang, Christina Gao
MEN- Jeremy Abbott, Adam Rippon, Ross Miner, Armin Mahbanoozadeh, Douglas Razzano
PAIRS- Denney/Coughlin, Donlan/Speroff, Castelli/Shnapir
DANCE- Davis/White, Shibutani/Shibutani, Hubbell/Donohue, K/G-S, Chock/Bates

*Olympic Gold Bye- Evan Lysacek

JGP FINAL - TBD

CONFLICTING EVENTS (all 3 Sectionals are Nov 9-13) and/or 2 GP EVENTS

LADIES- Mirai Nagasu, Gracie Gold, Rachael Flatt
MEN- Richard Dornbush, Johnny Weir
PAIRS- Yankowskas/Reagan, Davis/Ladwig, Vise/Baldwin
DANCE- Olson/Hubbell

[jlai]

Rachael has a bye?

ETA: Safe to say Joshua and Jason get a bye, assuming they actually compete at the JGPF

[PDilemma]

Thanks for this list, haribobo. I was wondering about byes the other day.

[Sylvia]

Flatt and the new dance team of Anastasia Olson/Keiffer Hubbell are the U.S. skaters assigned to Ice Challenge in Graz, Austria (published today on USFS' International Assignments page) that didn't already have a bye to Nationals.

I'm haven't heard for certain yet if having 2 GP events (specifically NHK Trophy) means an automatic bye through Sectionals to Nationals for Davis/Ladwig, though.

Safe to say Joshua and Jason get a bye, assuming they actually compete at the JGPF

When Kiri Baga qualified for the JGP Final 2 years ago and withdrew due to injury, she kept her bye to Nationals (and then WD later).

Alexandra Aldridge/Daniel Eaton have also qualified for the JGP Final and will receive a bye to Nationals in Junior Dance.

[jlai]

Thx, Sylvia. I didn't remember whether the bye is earned by qualifying or competing at JGPF

[victoriaheidi]

Is Flatt being sent to Graz because it's likely that she'd have a hard time qualifying if she went to Mids?

/conspiracy theory

[haribobo]

I think its a combination of things, but I honestly don't think its out of fear she wouldn't make it (of course that was a possibility that she wouldn't, but USFS doesn't assign out of fear)...basically not surprising she got this spot because of 1) she finished 6th at Nationals- the highest placing finisher without a bye and/or without 2 assignments- and another opportunity for her to get a 4CC/World qualifying score, 2) a kind gesture toward a former Olympian/National champion, and 3) perhaps a kind gesture towards the organizers of Midwestern Sectionals so they don't have to worry about finding extra seating or whatnot to accomodate those who may show up to see a "star" (might not have factored in but who knows). All in all it just makes sense- though it would also have been nice to assign Vanessa Lam or Courtney Hicks to lighten the load on the senior ladies at Pacs, or Yasmin Siraj since she didn't get anything this season...

[victoriaheidi]

I think its a combination of things, but I honestly don't think its out of fear she wouldn't make it (of course that was a possibility that she wouldn't, but USFS doesn't assign out of fear)...basically not surprising she got this spot because of 1) she finished 6th at Nationals- the highest placing finisher without a bye and/or without 2 assignments- and another opportunity for her to get a 4CC/World qualifying score, 2) a kind gesture toward a former Olympian/National champion, and 3) perhaps a kind gesture towards the organizers of Midwestern Sectionals so they don't have to worry about finding extra seating or whatnot to accomodate those who may show up to see a "star" (might not have factored in but who knows). All in all it just makes sense- though it would also have been nice to assign Vanessa Lam or Courtney Hicks to lighten the load on the senior ladies at Pacs, or Yasmin Siraj since she didn't get anything this season...

Good point. But yes, it really is a shame that Vanessa hasn't been able to redeem her one poor JGP performance and that Yasmin had absolutely nothing all fall (especially hard to argue against any poor performances when you consider Rachael's score at Skate St. Moritz).

[leafygreens]

Isn't Alissa's bye contingent on if she competes at NHK? I wonder how her hip is recovering?

[Sylvia]

Czisny was 2nd at Nationals - USFS rulebook states that the top 5 in Senior receive an automatic bye through Regionals & Sectionals the following year.

[misskarne]

ETA: Safe to say Joshua and Jason get a bye, assuming they actually compete at the JGPF

DON'T SAY THAT

When Kiri Baga qualified for the JGP Final 2 years ago and withdrew due to injury, she kept her bye to Nationals (and then WD later).

So Josh and Jason have a bye. Maybe Nathan Chen as well, can you get a bye to Junior Nationals?

All these byes, who actually competes at the qualifiers?

[johndockley92]

DON'T SAY THAT



So Josh and Jason have a bye. Maybe Nathan Chen as well, can you get a bye to Junior Nationals?

All these byes, who actually competes at the qualifiers?

There's still tons of people who are competing in the qualifiers; including the aforementioned Lam and Hicks.

Also - Nathan will get a bye to nationals if he makes the final, yes you can get a bye to nationals at the Junior level.


ITA that the senior ladies at Pacifics are gonna be a tough group this year.

[haribobo]

It'll be a bit easier to name the top contendors for Sectionals once all the Regionals and JGP events are done, but so far, some of the top senior skaters we could see at sectionals...

MEN- Grant Hochstein, Keegan Messing, Max Aaron, Brandon Mroz, Sean Rabbitt, Andrew Gonzales, Alex Johnson, Harrison Choate, Tim Dolensky, Wesley Campbell, William Brewster, Jonathan Cassar, Scott Dyer, Philip Warren, Alex Aiken, Michael Chau, Daniel Raad

LADIES- Vanessa Lam, Hannah Miller (poss. JGPF), Samantha Cesario (poss. JGPF), Angela Wang (poss. JGPF), Courtney Hicks (poss. JGPF), Leah Keiser (poss. JGPF), Yasmin Siraj, Joelle Forte, Nina Jiang, Kiri Baga, Ashley Cain, Haley Dunne, Mckinzie Daniels, Becky Bereswill, Amanda Dobbs, Morgan Bell, Sophia Adams

PAIRS- Zhang/Bartholomay, Kayne/O'Shea, Scimeca/Knierim, Denney/Frazier, Baga/Toth, Duarte/Grafton, Leng/Leduc

DANCE- Cannuscio/McManus, Hoptman/Filchenkov, Pilgrim/Lorello, Halstead/Knopf, Nardozzi/Traxler, Aronow/Brubaker, Gamelin/Gamelin, Cannuscio/Bramante

That should be most of the top contendors competing- sorry to anyone I forgot for now...

[icellist]

LADIES- Vanessa Lam, Hannah Miller (poss. JGPF), Samantha Cesario (poss. JGPF), Angela Wang (poss. JGPF), Courtney Hicks (poss. JGPF), Leah Keiser (poss. JGPF), Yasmin Siraj, Joelle Forte, Nina Jiang, Kiri Baga, Ashley Cain, Haley Dunne, Mckinzie Daniels, Becky Bereswill, Amanda Dobbs, Morgan Bell, Sophia Adams

That should be most of the top contendors competing- sorry to anyone I forgot for now...

Returning skaters Kristiene Gong and Ellie Kawamura!

Also, skaters from summer club competitions with respectful FS score:
NA: Jordan Bauth (88+)
SA: Jessica Hu (85+)
UGL: Carly Gold (86+)
NWP: Amanda Hofmann (82+)

[Vagabond]

All these byes, who actually competes at the qualifiers?

I think your question deserves a more direct answer than you've been given so far.

In Seniors, the top five finishers at the previous season's U.S. Nationals get automatic byes.

The USFSA also occasionally writes its rules in such a way that certain other top Senior skaters get automatic byes based on past international performances. If I remember correctly, there is currently a bye that is specific to gold medalists from the last Winter Olympic Games (In other words, it was written to allow Lysacek a bye even though he hasn't competed since 2010.)

Skaters receive byes to the next round (Sectionals or Nationals) if they have an international assignment close to the date of the pertinent qualifying championship (Regionals or Sectionals).

Also, some skaters receive byes under certain circumstances when there aren't very many entries from their Region or Section.

Take away all these skaters, and who is left to skate at the qualifiers? Typically, it's (1) skaters who competed the previous season but didn't qualify for Nationals the previous season, (2) skaters who qualified for Nationals but didn't finish high enough to be sent to an international competition, (3) skaters whose international competitions aren't scheduled close to the date of the domestic qualifying competitions, (4) skaters who for one reason or another didn't compete the previous season but don't have an exemption the way Lysacek does, and (5) skaters moving up to a higher level (e.g., Seniors). Effectively, that means all skaters competing on the Novice level, most Juniors, and quite a few Seniors.

[Sylvia]

I've already posted this link in the U.S. Regionals info/results discussion thread in Kiss and Cry, but I have started to compile the projected rosters for the 3 U.S. Sectionals in November (final qualifying competition for 2013 Nationals) in my blog as well as trying to keep track of all known byes (besides the top 5 Senior finishers from 2012 Nationals) here: http://unseenskaters.wordpress.com/sectionals/
The top 4 finishers in the Novice/Junior/Senior events advance to Nationals from each of the 3 Sectionals.

ETA: I'm not surprised that Flatt was assigned to Ice Challenge for a bye through Sectionals because she is a former national champion and Olympian. USFS has been cutting back on competition byes to Nationals in recent years in an attempt to limit the size of the Senior singles fields, so it makes sense that both of their men's entries for Ice Challenge (Mahbanoozadeh, Razzano) already have byes to Nationals due to their top 5 finish in 2012.

[gkelly]

Also, some skaters receive byes under certain circumstances when there aren't very many entries from their Region or Section.

There are always enough ladies singles skaters to hold a senior competition in every region, but it's comparatively rare for there to be enough senior men in the same region, without other byes, to require a competition.

Smaller regions might not have enough men at some of the lower levels either. It can vary from year to year.

Pairs and dancers start the competition process at sectionals -- in large part because there are rarely enough teams in any one region to require them, especially if fill-up rules apply.

[SkateFan66]

The USFSA also occasionally writes its rules in such a way that certain other top Senior skaters get automatic byes based on past international performances. If I remember correctly, there is currently a bye that is specific to gold medalists from the last Winter Olympic Games (In other words, it was written to allow Lysacek a bye even though he hasn't competed since 2010).

The USFSA did not re-write its rules to provide Lysacek a bye into nationals. In fact, USFSA does not have a bye to nationals that is "specific" to Olympic Gold Medalist. However, the USFSA does provide a bye for winning a medal at the most recent Olympic Winter Games (Winners of a medal at the previous year's World Championships also get byes into Nationals) Sasha Cohen is a recent example of a skater using the Olympic medal as a bye into nationals. Sasha Cohen won silver at the 2006 Olympics and did not compete again until the 2010 US Nationals.


U.S. Figure Skating Qualifying Structure:

http://www.usfsa.org/Events.asp?id=490

[michiruwater]

It was also how Michelle basically just competed at Nats and Worlds multiple times. She got a bye to Nats based on her Oly medal. It's not exactly a new rule.

[Vagabond]

It was also how Michelle basically just competed at Nats and Worlds multiple times. She got a bye to Nats based on her Oly medal. It's not exactly a new rule.

Huh? Michelle Kwan earned her byes by winning or finishing second or at Nationals for twelve years in succession. The rule that allowed Sasha Cohen to receive a bye to Nationals was instituted for the 2009-10 season.