U.S. Ladies [#19]: Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

[Coco]

Should we read anything in the Ice Network banner for Skate America changing from Ashley & Nathan to Karen & Nathan?

 

[kwanfan1818]

It's down to Ladies skaters for one GPF spot: If Wagner or Tsurskaya wins, she will be the third or fourth qualifier, depending on total score compared to Osmond's. If neither wins and either is second, then it will be her total score compared to Higuchi's for the sixth spot.

 

[Firedancer]

Should we read anything in the Ice Network banner for Skate America changing from Ashley & Nathan to Karen & Nathan?

I still see Ashley & Nathan. Maybe they have more than one?

 

[Willin]

IceNetwork isn't run by USFSA (just contracted by them to stream stuff and make some limited content; MLB's streaming service runs it as a very, very bottom of the list project), so I think that it's whoever is doing the content or page-building for IceNetwork that day that determines what to put up. The people who run IceNetwork don't know skating too well, so I'd assume they just put up one of the most recent images of whatever names they see on the list that they recognize as a potential medal contender. I don't think USFS's selection committee is calling them and telling them who to advertise.

 

[Willin]

Current Sectionals results (Senior/Jr ladies) - top 4 advance:

Easterns (Final)
Senior

1. Emmy Ma - 167.61
2. Franchesca Chiera - 153.33
3. Katie McBeath - 147.29
4. Megan Wessenberg - 146.44

Junior

1. Ting Cui - 163.31 (3L-1L-3S clean)
2. Audrey Shin - 156.97 (3L-3T clean in FS, 3F-3T< in short)
3. Gabriella Izzo - 149.60
4. Emily Zhang - 140.54

Interestingly, there were no 3-3s in Senior ladies here...

Mids
Senior

1. Hannah Miller - 175.65
2. Brynne McIsaac - 166.79
3. Emily Chan - 155.54
4. Ashley Lin - 151.31 (3T-3T<< fall in SP)
5. Maxine Marie Bautista - 150.13 (3T-3T clean in SP)

Junior

1. Hannah Harrell - 189.05 (3F-3T clean in SP and FS)
2. Jenna Shi - 161.76
3. Pooja Kalyan - 151.35 (3T-3T< in FS, clean in SP)
4. Angelina Huang - 150.71

Coast
Senior (short)

1. Starr Andrews - 66.46 (3T-3T clean)
2. Vivian Le - 59.89
3. Tessa Hong - 59.89 (3F<3T<<)
4. Sierra Vanetta - 55.76
5. Kaitlyn Nguyen - 51.56

Junior

1. Alyssa Liu - 171.42 (3F-3T clean in SP, 3Lz-3T< fall in FS, 3F-1Lo-3S clean in FS)
2. Akari Nakahara - 143.98
3. Lily Sun - 143.70 (3T-3T clean in SP and FS)
4. Emma Coppess - 136.71

 

[feraina]

Wow, Hannah Harrell!!

 

[Sylvia]

Re-posting some of my comments from the U.S. Sectionals thread in Kiss & Cry...

Frank Carroll is in Grenoble with Denis Ten so Jonathan Cassar is with Tessa Hong in Spokane.

Tessa (3rd) & Vivian Le (2nd) are tied at 59.89! Tiebreaker in SP is the TES mark.

Kaitlyn Nguyen (in 5th) recently changed coaches to Tiffany Chin: http://web.icenetwork.com/skaters/profile/kaitlyn_nguyen

Starr Andrews! 3T+3T, 3Lo & 2A 66.46 - she wins the Senior Ladies SP at Pacific Coasts!
Sierra Venetta 55.76 is the surprise in 4th (she won the U.S. Novice bronze medal back in 2016 behind Haley Beavers and Alexia Paganini). Livvy Shilling is in 7th.

 

[wickedwitch]

Current Sectionals results (Senior/Jr ladies) - top 4 advance:

Pooja Kalyan - 151.35 (3T-3T< in FS, clean in SP)

I'm pretty sure she fell on the 3-3 in the SP. (It's a gorgeous program regardless.)

 

[Tinami Amori]

I don't expect much of polina this weekend.

I expect "much much" shopping bags from Caserne de Bonne, with lots of trendy clothes and gifts for sorority sisters...

 

[Willin]

Polina's FS dress is gorgeous! (Unfortunately that's still about the only good thing I can say - I thought that there was more improvement than there was, based on the score sheets)
I've been thinking about the Program Components scores for US ladies going into the Olympics.

Someday I'll do a whole chart/graph (I want to see correlation between jump content and PCS, particularly in the men and the correlation between falls and % decrease in PCS), but since I'm still hungover from my licensing exam, I'll just post these data points for now. (Also, SkatingScores.com is amazing, but if I could datamine certain data points easier I would be such the skating stats nerd right now)

My takeaways: Ashley is way ahead of the other ladies in components. Falls don't affect components as much as one would expect. Mirai's components are for the most part incredibly consistent.

-Ashley - 33.47/67.50 (CAN)
-Mirai - 30.72/63.09 (NHK), 30.24/60.46 (RUS), 29.52/63.28 (USIC)
-Bradie - 27.44/61.04 (Lombardia)
-Courtney - 28.68/60.73 (CAN), 27.40/56.64 (Autumn Classic)
-Karen - 30.43/61.99 (CAN), 31.72/62.16 (Autumn Classic)
-Mariah - 30.31/57.95 (NHK), 29.80/60.34 (RUS), 28.04/55.92 (USIC)
-Polina - 27.58/56.69 (France), 28.43/53.41

 

[Coco]

Fascinating that Mariah got a 3 point boost at Rostelcom while Mirai got a 3 point drop at the same comp.

Thanks @Willin good luck with your exam results!

 

[olympic]

Hannah Miller won Sectionals. I thought she had disappeared for some reason. Good for Starr Andrews. I am rooting for that girl

 

[Sylvia]

Hannah Miller won Sectionals. I thought she had disappeared for some reason.

Hannah wrote about her injury/surgery and new programs back in June: http://figureskatersonline.com/hannahmiller/main/surgery-new-programs-and-summer-plans/
It's been a long process of recovery for her (she didn't compete both programs in the same club comp. until September) and winning Midwestern Sectionals is definitely a high point of her season so far (she was credited with landing 5 of 6 triples cleanly in her FS, including a Lutz & 2 flips).

 

[wickedwitch]

Of what I've watched, Hannah's LP was the highlight of sectionals for me. I would like to see USFS give her Golden Spin, but I doubt they will.

 

[RD]

It's down to Ladies skaters for one GPF spot: If Wagner or Tsurskaya wins, she will be the third or fourth qualifier, depending on total score compared to Osmond's. If neither wins and either is second, then it will be her total score compared to Higuchi's for the sixth spot.

Interesting. While it's certainly within Wagner's capacity to win at SA, that would also require her to be at or near peak, which I doubt she is at this point. I recall Wagner's legacy issue was peaking too early and then running out of steam towards the middle/end of the season...It seems she's been managing that a bit more carefully since of late.

I'm more interested to see how she stacks up with Chen at this point, and where the two of them stand in relation to Nagasu and Bell. We know Edmunds is still on the upswing, and probably a longshot at this point - and I don't know yet if any others have the capacity to sneak in and upset, like Edmunds herself did in 2014. Doesn't look like it though, but I suppose we'll find out. Even then, depending on placements that doesn't necessarily mean Team.

ETA: Here's another question regarding Wagner - if she misses GPF (most likely scenario), will she try to shoot for another B-level international comp before Nationals? I remember last year she initially signed up before backing out of it in favor of training time...hard to tell if it worked in her favor or not though.

 

[mag]

Of what I've watched, Hannah's LP was the highlight of sectionals for me. I would like to see USFS give her Golden Spin, but I doubt they will.

Golden Spin entries closed on a November 10th. I guess it is a possibility if there is room, but it is fairly late in the game.

 

[Coco]

Is Hannah eligible for 4CCs?

 

[Sylvia]

^^^ No, Hannah hasn't competed internationally in the past 2 seasons.

Currently has both minimum technical scores (27 / 47) for Worlds:
Starr Andrews, Mariah Bell, Karen Chen, Amber Glenn, Courtney Hicks, Mirai Nagasu, Bradie Tennell, Ashley Wagner, Angela Wang, Caroline Zhang (also Gracie Gold & Paige Rydberg but they won't be at 2018 Nationals).

Has both minimums (20 / 36) for 4CC but lacks Worlds FS minimum:
Emily Chan, Franchesca Chiera, Polina Edmunds, Tessa Hong, Livvy Shilling

 

[AxelAnnie]

So happy to hear about Hannah. I was thinking about here just last night, and wondering where she went. I really like her skating.

 

[mag]

With 4CC’s so early this year, I believe Golden Spin is the last opportunity to get the minimums. It will be interesting to see who is going. I assume the list will be out soon.

 

[Seerek]

Smart of Starr to focus on making it to Nationals with clean performances coming off a slight injury in the fall, opting not to bring back flip/lutz/axel back just yet. 64 TES in the long with the 5 triples.

Tessa got the highest component scores and won the long program.

 

[wickedwitch]

Hanna Harrell's terrific performances are available on icenetwork.
SP: http://web.icenetwork.com/video/v1867342383
LP: http://web.icenetwork.com/video/v1867519783

 

[Frida80]

Hanna Harrell's terrific performances are available on icenetwork.
SP: http://web.icenetwork.com/video/v1867342383
LP: http://web.icenetwork.com/video/v1867519783

It says I need a season’s pass.

 

[RD]

In 2014, USFS and Wagner shared a sponsor (Hilton).

I don’t know if that is the case this year.

Well....I know Toyota is one of Wagner's sponsors this season (confirmed by her in an Instagram posting). Then I saw this tweet from USFS:

https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/932403648679653378

I read this as if Toyota is also USFS' sponsor - if so, looks like we have a sponsor conflict of interest once again.

 

[Sylvia]

Although USFS has yet to post the official Golden Spin entries on their Assignments page, Starr Andrews (her CS debut), Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell are listed as their 3 ladies entries (link is posted in the 2017 ISU Challenger Series thread in GSD). Competition dates are December 6-9.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Starr Andrews (her CS debut), Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell

THATS WAY interesting.

Very interested to see how these 3 do against each other.

Does Tennell have the distance?

Does Chen turn it around?

And where does Starr factor in?

 

[Coco]

I think Starr needs to get her senior minimums for 4ccs in case ... she becomes a good candidate for a spot on that team.

 

[Marco]

-Ashley - 33.47/67.50 (CAN)
-Mirai - 30.72/63.09 (NHK), 30.24/60.46 (RUS), 29.52/63.28 (USIC)
-Bradie - 27.44/61.04 (Lombardia)
-Courtney - 28.68/60.73 (CAN), 27.40/56.64 (Autumn Classic)
-Karen - 30.43/61.99 (CAN), 31.72/62.16 (Autumn Classic)
-Mariah - 30.31/57.95 (NHK), 29.80/60.34 (RUS), 28.04/55.92 (USIC)
-Polina - 27.58/56.69 (France), 28.43/53.41

Two more shots for Bradie to improve her international PCS.

I think it means if Bradie does well at SA, USFS wants to give her another chance to strengthen her momentum going into Nationals since she didn't have a second GP. And if she doesn't, then she has another chance to prove herself.

For Karen, it's very much the same, except not because she does't have a second GP but because she hasn't been skating well so far this season.

Not looking good for Mariah's O chances so far. Mirai has a 3axel and a feel good story, but her scores / calls so far this season seems to suggest that she is still not the most competitive.

I am still going to say the team will be Ashley, Karen and Mirai. But if Bradie is foot perfect at SA and Golden Spin and Nationals, and Mirai gets bum calls at Nationals, Bradie can be the Polina Edmunds pick.

 

[Dobre]

I think Karen usually does a late senior B so she is probably comfortable with doing it again as part of her preparation for Nationals.

I think Bradie needs the experience and has the score to earn another Challenger so she is getting it.

I think Starr did very well at her first JGP, but there weren't enough spots to hand out a second one to all the ladies who did well and she is competing at senior Nationals so a senior B was a good fit.

I don't actually think any of these ladies are going for the purpose of being in direct competition with each other. Rather that they need the experience. And, goodness knows, if things go topsy turvy as they are wont to do in this sport, especially when involving Karen, then the placements could absolutely crisscross one another.

 

[pinky166]

Excited for Starr! She just won Eastern Sectionals with a 186 score which is really high given its sectionals and the PCS is generally very modest for everyone.