2026 U.S. Sectional Singles & Pairs/Dance Finals

[Wyliefan]

Carhart/Bledsoe into 2nd. Nice. Long way to go, but they have good packaging and a lot of potential if they stick with it.

 

[just tuned in]

Sometimes when watching ice dance (at all levels), I want to make notes on which person on the team is the stronger skater so that I can play fantasy pairings later. Wiles looks pissed, Sophia looks crushed.

 

[just tuned in]

Calhoun/Zhelty bowed to their coach after their performance. They have a six-way hand-hold in the KnC. First team to best Deych/Hu's FD score.

 

[Wyliefan]

Calhoun/Zhelty bowed to their coach after their performance. They have a six-way hand-hold in the KnC. First team to best Deych/Hu's FD score.

Same thing Nes/Mark always do with her. I missed C/Z -- will have to catch up later.

 

[just tuned in]

Same thing Nes/Mark always do with her. I missed C/Z -- will have to catch up later.

C/Z was met by a male coach. Don't recognize him.

 

[Wyliefan]

C/Z was met by a male coach. Don't recognize him.

Oh, must be a member of Dostatni's team then.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

C/Z was met by a male coach. Don't recognize him.

It was Logan Giuletti-Schmidt. He works with the WASA teams.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Melissa and Denis are doing a wonderful job with their young teams. Lissauer's new partner has such a lovely grace about her, similar to Hana Maria. William just needs to focus on matching her lines and being a bit more lyrical.

 

[Kateri]

C/Z was met by a male coach. Don't recognize him.

Oh, must be a member of Dostatni's team then.

Dostatni? Maybe he's the team priest.

 

[just tuned in]

Top three are within tenths of each other!

Jane Calhoun, Broadmoor SC
Mark Zheltyshev, Broadmoor SC
58.22 88.36 146.58

Effie Chen, SC of Boston
Gordei Chitipakhovian, Broadmoor SC
59.93 86.58 146.51

Aneta Vaclavikova, SC of New York
William Lissauer, All Year FSC
58.07 88.11 146.18

 

[Wyliefan]

Junior men are up. Yaoshan Jiang is skating to the wackiest version of "That's Amore" I've ever heard. Kirk Haugeto is next.

 

[Wyliefan]

And Kirk is Kirk -- great expressiveness, very messy jumps, lots of theatrical gestures afterward. Such a great little skater; I wish he could fix those jumps.

And now I've got to focus on work for a while. Back later.

 

[maureenfarone]

I liked Nicholas Brooks program and he scored very well with a 68.56. He seemed to be in a lot of pain at the end of the program with possibly a leg/foot injury and took several minutes to leave the ice. IIRC he has recently been dealing with an injury.

The Jr. Dance team C/Z that @just tuned in mentioned might have been met by Logan Giuliette-Schmitt. I think Logan coaches with the Dostatni group.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I think it's really interesting that the top three teams here plus the two bye teams are all new or relatively new (A/V) teams. It's impressive how quickly these teams are gelling.

 

[Wyliefan]

Mullens looked better today, though twizzles were still rough.

 

[Wyliefan]

Points to Hessel/Klaber for a nice ballroom routine to Sinatra. Her green dress and his tux are cute, too.

I accidentally scheduled a meeting to start in a few minutes -- I never will get time zones figured out! -- but it shouldn't last long, so I hope to be back in time for the next group.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Cui/Rogers’ FD gets me every time!

 

[Wyliefan]

Peals looking pretty sharp. at Elliana singing along. Their choreo step is a little goofy-looking; I think they could punch that up a bit. Whoops, Ethan just did a belly flop after putting her down from the last lift! Luckily it was a low lift, so he didn't have far to fall.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

Peals should have picked more popular ELO songs

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

I liked Nicholas Brooks [...] He seemed to be in a lot of pain at the end of the program with possibly a leg/foot injury and took several minutes to leave the ice.

A an extra moment or two to painfully skate to the door, not several minutes. You make it sound like EMS was about to skate out to him, lol.

I wonder if the pain was just from his fall, or if that fall exacerbated an existing injury.

 

[Wyliefan]

In second behind C/R. Not surprising; besides that one fall, they had another lift that looked kind of awkward.

 

[Wyliefan]

Lord help us, Pham/Spiridonov have Sam's death voiceovers in their Ghost FD. That's squicky enough to make me want to ban Ghost programs forever.

 

[Wyliefan]

Slight twizzle whoopsie for Bella. Other than that, you could tell how far above Linus's level she is even if you didn't know the history. It looks like she's trying to skate for the both of them.

 

[Karen-W]

Slight twizzle whoopsie for Bella. Other than that, you could tell how far above Linus's level she is even if you didn't know the history. It looks like she's trying to skate for the both of them.

Really have to wonder how long this partnership will last. I'm guessing after this season, Isabella finds herself a stronger partner who is looking to make a change at the end of the Olympic cycle. This partnership at least gets her out there competing & still on coaches' minds as a potential partner.

 

[sk8nlizard]

Cui/Rogers’ FD gets me every time!

I don’t follow dance very closely but her dress is beautiful!

 

[Wyliefan]

Katie Shen's got the worst ever version of "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You," and in skating, we've heard 'em all.

 

[Sktwo]

Wow. Not too many jumpers in that group of ladies. Scores are so low. Most seemed to be philosophical about their scores but I did feel bad for the one who had no one with her.

 

[Impromptu]

That should set the senior field for dance. The ten byes, plus: Cui/Rodgers, Peals, Pham/Spinderov, Koncius/Shchepetov; and Flores/Jepsen. Mullens would be first alternates.

 

[Wyliefan]

Feeling bad for the Mullens.

I wonder why Flores/Jepsen decided to switch from France to the U.S. Citizenship issues, maybe?

 

[Wyliefan]

Third group of senior women is warming up. Soho Lee will be up first.