2019 U.S. Club Competitions with new National Qualifying Series (NQS) & revamped competitive qualifying pipeline info

[Sylvia]

Here's a general thread for U.S. club (non-qualifying) competitions in 2019, including info on the new National Qualifying Series (NQS) - link to USFS' info page that includes info on the revamped 2019-20 competitive qualifying pipeline: https://www.usfsa.org/story?id=84035

The National Qualifying Series (NQS) is a series of official U.S. Figure Skating approved competitions hosted individually by member clubs nationwide that are held in a standard format and in which athletes earn official scores towards a sectional and national rank. The competitions are held between June 1 – September 15 and serve juvenile – senior competitors in singles, dance and pairs.

2019-20 National Qualifying Series Competitions
All U.S. Figure Skating member clubs that typically host non-qualifying competitions during the summer months were invited to apply for their competition to be selected. Host competitions must meet the requirements outlined here.

Below is the list of competitions approved for NQS the 2019-20 season, by discipline. Note: Competitions are grouped by section, however, athletes may compete in any events they choose.

Links:
NQS Singles Competitions
NQS Pairs Competitions
NQS Dance Competitions

Separate threads will be started for the major club comps when more information becomes available, such as Broadmoor Open/Peggy Fleming Trophy/Aerial Challenge (June 25-29), Glacier Falls Summer Classic (July 18-21), Skate Detroit (July 23-27), Lake Placid Dance Championships/Sr. & Jr. International/North American Cup for USA & CAN Novice dance teams (July 30-Aug. 2). Philadelphia Summer Championships & International (July 30-Aug. 3), for example.

Chesapeake Open (June 19-22) already has its own thread here due to the (dance) entries being available online: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...cl-dance-camp-june-19-22-in-laurel-md.105662/

List of U.S. Club Competitions with results links published to date: https://unseenskaters.wordpress.com/competitions/

ETA thanks in advance to anyone who attends a club competition and takes the time to share any impressions, such as this comment posted in the U.S. Men's thread on Friday:

At Bluebonnet open today Daniel Argueta skated to tango in the jr men short with a 2a, 3t/3t hop out and 3 loop. Nice program!

 

[jlai]

At Bluebonnet open today Jessica Lin did a clean jr ladies short with3t/3t, 2a and 3 loop(I think it is a loop, didn’t take notes). 57.3ish in score

Jessica Lin and Nicole Chong landed quite a few triples in the warmup in the free skate. THey were still adjusting to landing them in the program. Lin landed the flip combo, the solo flip and a nice 2A that I remember. The lutz was not landed perfectly I think(??). Still, a clear first. Chong skated to the tango in Moulin Rouge. The total score was 140 something.


Daniel Argueta skated to La Strada in the free. He included all triples in his free, including a 3A, a lutz and 2 flips. I guess the jump bonus was an incentive; I wonder if USFSA was telling folks to get the axel to be considered for the jgp? He is still working on the harder jumps, but again, I like his program.

In novice, Haley Conrad got 38 or 39 something in the short and took the lead. DOn't know the fs results.
I think Vanessa Pham and her partner skated today in the novice dance but I didn't stay to watch.

Amber Glenn didn't show.

 

[euterpe]

Results are up for the LAKE PLACID FS CHAMPIONSHIPS.

https://www.lakeplacidskating.com/figure-skating-championships

Note that several Canadian skaters are entered.

Gabriella Izzo won the Senior Ladies event with a total 169.41 (54.67, 114.74) 1 1
Alina Soupian (ISR) was 2nd with 142.09 (46.27, 95.82) 4 2
Emilia Murdock was 3rd with 138.09 (43.14, 94.95) 6 3
Katherine Medland Spence (CAN) was 4th with 135.17 (46.98, 88.19) 2 4

Also from Canada

7. Michelle Long 123.36 (42.52, 80.84) 8 6
9. Helene Carle 109.82
11. Heidi Pelchat 103.43
12. Yasmina Gosselin 101.43

In Junior Ladies, Irene Kim won with 135.25 (45.39, 90.36)
Catherine Carle (CAN) was 2nd with 129.94 (43.13, 86.81)

Ryan Dunk was the Senior Men winner with 196.32 (68.85, 127.47)

Junior Pairs SP

Analise GONZALES / Franz-Peter JEROSCH 39.04
Clemence VALLIERES / Samir ANDJORIN 34.24 (she is USFS, he is CAN)

Senior Pairs SP
Olivia SERAFINI / Mervin TRAN 54.82
Anna Vernikov / Evgeni KRASNOPOLSKI (ISR) 38.49

Final Results still to come for Novice Ladies / Novice Men combined and Intermediate Ladies combined.

 

[clairecloutier]

Some results are up for the LAKE PLACID FS CHAMPIONSHIPS.

https://www.lakeplacidskating.com/figure-skating-championships

Note that several Canadian skaters are entered.

Several Colonial FSC skaters seem to be listed as representing Poland now (?). Julia Kierul and Tiffany Lu. Also Paige Felton and Annabelle Rie.

2018 (?) U.S. novice pairs champions Hom/Jerosch have split, and Jerosch is now skating with Analise Gonzalez. As I recall, Gonzalez was a promising Novice lady a year or two ago with SC of Boston (reached Natls in 2017 I believe), but I don't think she competed last year. Will be interesting to see them.

 

[barbarafan]

@Sylvia is there an ice dance competition this week or coming up?

 

[Debbie S]

@Sylvia is there an ice dance competition this week or coming up?

Lake Placid's dance comp is in late July.

 

[barbarafan]

Lake Placid's dance comp is in late July.

Thank-you so much

 

[Sylvia]

Replying here:

@Sylvia are you doing Scoretracker this season?

I'm hoping to have the first update published by sometime in early July, maybe.

 

[Sylvia]

This year Skate Detroit (July 25-27) has swapped weeks with Glacier Falls Summer Classic (July 17-21).

Just saw that the event schedule for Skate Detroit is published: https://dscclub.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SkateDetroitScheudle2019.pdf

2019 Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships (July 30-August 2) event page (North American Cup Novice competition between USA & CAN teams will take place here again this year): https://www.lakeplacidskating.com/ice-dance-championships
ISU Senior/Junior international event page: https://www.lakeplacidskating.com/ice-dance-international
ETA that Ice-Dance.com should be covering this comp. and hopefully a live stream will be available for purchase again: http://www.snapshotsportsphotography.com/live/

Philadelphia Summer Championships club comp. and ISU Senior/Junior International (singles) will be July 30-August 3 in Aston, PA.

Separate competition threads usually are started for these competitions as time draws nearer and more information becomes available.

Re-posting here from the 2019 Canadian Spring/Summer Competitions thread:

North American Cup is a series of Novice level competitions organized by Skate Canada and US Figure Skating. Participants are selected by their respective member skating federations.

The 2019 North American Cup competitions will take place in the following locations:

• Milwaukee, WI – July 9 to 11 (Singles only)
• Lake Placid, NY – July 30 to Aug 2 (Ice Dance only)
• [Wild Rose] Edmonton, AB – August 2 to 4 (Singles and Pairs)

Is there any interest in having a separate thread for the North American Cup competitions again this year?

 

[Dobre]

@Sylvia is there an ice dance competition this week or coming up?

The Texas-Cannon Open (11-14) and the Cactus Classic (12-16) are both held this week. Usually we get junior dance results from the former, and I assume the latter is the event that we know Marina's teams are signed up for.

 

[Debbie S]

The Texas-Cannon Open (11-14) and the Cactus Classic (12-16) are both held this week. Usually we get junior dance results from the former

As I posted in the Chesapeake Open thread, the chief accountant (who has not yet sent results, hence why they are not posted) told me that accountants are not allowed to send NQS results to clubs for posting online, due to some entrants possibly not being part of NQS (if they rep another country) necessitating edits to the results before they are submitted to USFS (and our accountant said they are not allowed to send pre-scrubbed results). So we most likely won't see official results from Cannon, unless someone posts results sheets on FB or somewhere.

 

[Dobre]

Ice-dance.com has asked for the results on their facebook site so if they get them, they will post them. We'll just have to see.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

There's a senior dance event scheduled at Cannon, but I have no idea who's registered. My sister is going to the Jr and Sr FDs tomorrow so I'll report any findings/music news I get

 

[Dobre]

Texas Cannon Results are being posted here:
https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/

Junior RD results are up, along with a bunch of solo dance results.

60.88 Nguyen & Kolesnik
60.73 Wolfkostin & Chen (highest TES)
54.27 Ales & Tsarik
53.41 Tkachenko & Kiliakov
50.47 Ling & Wein
47.88 Lavrova & Gart (1.00 deduction)
42.73 Lin & Sletten
38.94 Ritter & Wang
33.14 Loughlin & Petrenko

 

[Dobre]

Texas Cannon Combined Junior Results:

152.63 Nguyen & Kolesnik
150.17 Wolfkostin & Chen
138.08 Tkachenko & Kiliakov
126.94 Lavrova & Gart
122.04 Ales & Tsarik
120.22 Ling & Wein
108.10 Lin & Sletten
70.88 Loughlin & Petrenko
63.01 Asher & Pearson (FD only)
Ritter & Wang did not compete an FD.

(I don't see the actual FD scores, though feel free to do the math. Ordinals have T&K in 3rd, L&G 4th, L&W 5th, and A&T 6th in the free. The rest of the teams have the same ordinals in the RD and FD).
ETA: Separate FD scores can be found if you scroll down here:
https://www.ice-dance.com/site/result-2019-cannon-texas-open/

Cactus Classic Junior RD Results:
44.36 Buckley & Spiridinov
39.15 Pouliot & Slevira
33.47 Nikolova & Ayers

Cactus Classic Senior RD Result:
46.73 Carhart & Vlasenko


I would guess that Tkachenko & Kiliakov's score is likely high enough for the ISP. It is quite a bit higher than Ales & Tsarik's score from this year's Nationals. Lavrova & Gart's and Ling & Wein's scores may be also if the mandatory score hasn't gone up since last year. (Which it very well may have considering how much higher junior dance scores have been since the scoring system change. I'm not remembering where the cut-off was last year, but I feel like right around 120).

Spiridonov competed with Pankova internationally at least as late as the Mentor Torun Cup last year so I assume, regardless of final scores, Buckley & Spiridinov are not competing internationally until after mid-January.

 

[her grace]

Cannon Free Dance report

It's very early in the season and programs are obviously still a work in progress.

Asher/Pearson: Nice work from this duo. She has a limber, relaxed quality. Thought they could have used an additional music cut or something to help the program build.

Nguyen/Kolesnik: Their free is to classical piano, and it seems they are going for a very clean, precise look. This may be a good contrast to Ushakova/Nekrasov, who can come off as unfinished. N/K had a good sense of emotion and a program that builds. She could work on her leg line. Program looks in great shape for this time of the season.

Lin/Sletten: Spanish music. Interesting program choice because this gives them a chance to act as characters and expressiveness is something they are still developing. This particular performance was a bit hesitant and they looked like they were still thinking through the choreography. She missed the blade grab on the twizzles. Could be a good vehicle for them later on.

Ales/Tsarik: bluesy number. She comes off as the stronger technician. He fizzled the twizzles. Not the most complex choreography or close skating, but cleverly disguises it as they perform with panache. Both are expressive and they have a bold presence that reminds me of some of the top Russian junior teams.

Tkachenko/Kiliakov: it's fairly popular skating music, but I couldn't place it (I'm terrible with music IDs). Nice intensity and program builds. Their unison and skating skills were unparalleled in their group. Deep knees. Deep edges. They look ready to go for the international season.

Lavrova/Gart: Something mixed with female cover of "Writing is on the Wall." Despite being a new pairing, they didn't look too "new." Very nice, difficult lifts. Need to work on speed, depth of edge, technical precision in steps. Team looked well-matched.

Wolfkostin/Chen: Impressive new pairing. She looks more mature in this partnership; also think the hair partially up is a good look for her. Vocals in this program does some of the heavy lifting, but they are engaging with the music and showing appropriate emotion. Strong performance. He had an unfortunate fall toward the end. Lots of potential here.

Ling/Wein: Program choreography seemed simple to me, but the fundamentals are there. I'm not familiar with her, probably because she's from Canada. Again, they look well-matched. They need more time.

 

[Dobre]

Lavrova & Gart announced their program music in an interview earlier as being the following:
RD The King & I
FD Theory of Everything (Maybe it has changed?)

Ling & Wein announced their FD as being set to "baroque style music."

Nguyen & Kolesnik announced their RD as Aladdin.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

N/K's FD is Rach 2 and part of Michelle's Rach SP music.

These were the notes my sister sent me about the other teams' music:

Sr FD:
Team from Japan: Maroon 5 medley
Melton and O’Neal: Never Tear Us Apart and Personal Jesus

Jr FD:
Asher and Pearson: Movement by Hozier
Lin and Sletten. Gypsy Kings-ish.
Ales/Tsarek - Take care of you
Laughlin/Petrov (now representing AZE?) In My Blood and Swan lake by The Piano Guys
Kiliakov: Sherlock Holmes by Zimmer and Watermark by John Tesh
Gart: Writing's on the Wall cover
Chen: How Will I Know by Sam Smith and Fire on Fire from Watership Down
Ling and Wein: Air on G string and Toccata en Fugue

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks to @her grace for your Cannon Texas Open FD report and for @TanithandBenFan's sister's music notes (the new AZE dance team is Loughlin/Petrenko).

Texas Cannon Combined Junior Results:
...
ETA: Separate FD scores can be found if you scroll down here:
https://www.ice-dance.com/site/result-2019-cannon-texas-open/

IDC also has posted the dance final results for Cactus Classic: https://www.ice-dance.com/site/results-2019-cactus-classic/

And the Chesapeake Open NQS dance results from last month: https://www.ice-dance.com/site/results-2019-chesapeake-open/

 

[her grace]

I would guess that Tkachenko & Kiliakov's score is likely high enough for the ISP. It is quite a bit higher than Ales & Tsarik's score from this year's Nationals. Lavrova & Gart's and Ling & Wein's scores may be also if the mandatory score hasn't gone up since last year. (Which it very well may have considering how much higher junior dance scores have been since the scoring system change. I'm not remembering where the cut-off was last year, but I feel like right around 120).

I also think that Tkachenko/Kiliakov will be added. There's only 5 JGP-eligible teams in the ISP currently, and T/K beat one of them at Cannon. I'd add Lavrova/Gart and Ling/Wein, too. What's the harm in adding them? The U.S. has 15 JGP spots to fill, and not enough teams currently in the ISP to fill them. Then of course, add additional teams as the season progresses, particularly after Lake Placid.

Not to mention (warning ), there's no reason for USFS to treat ice dance like the red-headed step child. Ice dance still has the fewest members of the ISP of any of the 4 disciplines, and while every other athlete/team on the novice podium was included in the initial selection, the novice ice dance teams were not. That's ridiculous.

 

[Dobre]

I also think that Tkachenko/Kiliakov will be added. There's only 5 JGP-eligible teams in the ISP currently, and T/K beat one of them at Cannon. I'd add Lavrova/Gart and Ling/Wein, too. What's the harm in adding them? The U.S. has 15 JGP spots to fill, and not enough teams currently in the ISP to fill them. Then of course, add additional teams as the season progresses, particularly after Lake Placid.

Not to mention (warning ), there's no reason for USFS to treat ice dance like the red-headed step child. Ice dance still has the fewest members of the ISP of any of the 4 disciplines, and while every other athlete/team on the novice podium was included in the initial selection, the novice ice dance teams were not. That's ridiculous.

Well, I don't think there would be any harm in raising the cut-off score a bit either. (Junior scores went up @10 points last season). These are brand new teams, and sometimes hurling a new team into international competition before they are ready is not a good thing. Which is not to say that L&G and L&W won't/wouldn't be ready. (How would I know? Haven't seen them skate yet). They have more events this summer even if the score has been raised.

Ice dance still has the fewest members of the ISP of any of the 4 disciplines, and while every other athlete/team on the novice podium was included in the initial selection, the novice ice dance teams were not. That's ridiculous.

I am in complete agreement about the novice teams. Tkachenko & Kiliakov medaled twice in international advanced novice competition, including a win in their event last year. Plus won a North American Challenge event against Canada's top novice team. And Lin & Sletten medaled internationally and won a NACS event also. I'd have put them on the list (and saved me some nerves worrying this summer).

Otherwise, the brevity of the list is pretty much because junior teams that had earned their way onto the list split.

 

[platniumangel]

I wasn’t there but heard reports- Wolfkostin & Chen were impressive. Do not look like a new team!

Tkchenko and Kiliakov skated to Sherlock Holmes. I was told they look like a good novice team but do not have difficult lifts expected for junior and lack ice coverage with certain elements like twizzles and lifts. However, they ended up with quite a high score.

Lavrova and Gart skated to theory of everything instrumental with an emotional female vocal piece at the end. Expressive and clean.

Ales & Tsarik made some mistakes but were quite expressive.

I thought the ISP score was raised a few points since last year - I think 126 range? That would qualify L&G for ISP.... not sure if L&W were close enough to the cut. I guess It would be up to USFS.

Anyone have reports from Cactus Open?

 

[Debbie S]

Lavrova and Gart skated to theory of everything instrumental with an emotional female vocal piece at the end. Expressive and clean.

The vocal piece is a cover of Writing's on the Wall, which is not from The Theory of Everything soundrack. Maybe the other piece is.

 

[platniumangel]

The vocal piece is a cover of Writing's on the Wall, which is not from The Theory of Everything soundrack. Maybe the other piece is.

Yes, the first piece is from Theory of everything and then it goes in to the vocal piece. I don’t know exactly which song or cover. Two pieces of music.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Sorry for the Petrov/Petrenko confusion at Cannon. My sister thought she heard the announcer say Petrov, and I assumed it was Alexander Petrov with a new partner.

The first piece of music in Lavrova/Gart's FD is "The Wedding" from The Theory of Everything.

 

[Dobre]

I thought the ISP score was raised a few points since last year - I think 126 range?

Looks right. Both Tkachenko & Kiliakov and Lavrova & Gart are now on the JGP sub list so one assumes they will be added to the ISP based on their Texas Cannon scores.

 

[Sylvia]

Skate Detroit will take place Thursday though Saturday (July 25-27) this week and here's the current schedule in both rinks: https://dscclub.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SCHEDULE.2019.pdf
The club never has published the entries on their website and none of the NQS designated competitions are making this info available online, AFAIK.

Senior and Junior Pairs events likely will have strong fields here because pairs are being assessed for potential international assignments (Challenger/JGP) and there is a high performance pairs camp scheduled at DSC afterwards.

I've been informed that there WILL be a livestream to purchase (likely for all 3 days of competition and not by day) and I will start a 2019 Skate Detroit thread as soon as that information is published online (by end of today, hopefully?).

ETA link to the Skate Detroit thread: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/2019-skate-detroit-july-25-27.105812/

 

[Dobre]

The schedule for Dance Pairs Chicago (August 9th-11th) is posted here:

https://www.facebook.com/dancepairschicago/

 

[Sylvia]

IDC's album of results photos from 2019 Dance-Pairs Chicago: https://www.facebook.com/pg/icedancecom/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10156578739857939

Shilling/Petrov (54.64) lead after the Senior RD: https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/photos/a.10156578739857939/10156580297812939/?type=3&theater & https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/photos/a.10156578739857939/10156580297757939/?type=3&theater

After the Junior RD the top 5 teams are: https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/photos/a.10156578739857939/10156580297822939/?type=3&theater
Nguyen/Kolesnik 60.72
DelCamp/Somerville 53.68
Taschler/Taschelerova CZE (their home rink) 50
Ling/Wein 48
Lavrova/Gart 47

The Peal siblings lead Novice after the PDs:
https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/photos/a.10156578739857939/10156580297692939/?type=3&theater

Isabelle Martins/Ryan Bedard (assigned to Lake Placid JGP) are the only Junior pair competing here (48.43 in SP) in their home rink.

ETA:

In Junior Dance on Saturday, Nguyen/Kolesnik scored over 101 in FD to win (162 total); Czech team moved up to 2nd overall (141), DelCamp/Somerville 3rd (140): https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/photos/a.10156578739857939/10156581905452939/?type=3&theater

Shilling/Petrov won the Senior event (86 in FD, 140.64 total), scoring 20 points higher overall than in Lake Placid: https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/photos/a.10156578739857939/10156581905022939/?type=3&theater

The Peals won the Novice Dance event: https://www.facebook.com/icedancecom/photos/a.10156578739857939/10156581905502939/?type=3&theater

 

[Dobre]

I thought the ISP score was raised a few points since last year - I think 126 range?

Well, the photo is blurry, but it looks to me like Ling & Wein are right there at 126+ for Dance Pairs Chicago. I can't tell the number exactly, but it looks over 126.5. They defeat Lavrova & Gart here, and the score is less than half a point below the 126.94 that earned L&G their spot on the ISP. It's a tiny bit lower so impossible to know, but my guess is that Ling & Wein make the ISP.
(Meanwhile, only one U.S. dance spot used at JGP Latvia).

Nice to see that Nicklas & Ryan did compete here. I remember reading earlier that they planned to move up to juniors; but I think this is the first time I've seen their names on a list this summer.