JUNIOR FREE DANCE
Report by Katie Weigel

With a strong and edgy performance to “Hope” by Apocalyptico Cult, Madison & Keiffer Hubbell won the free skate and became the 2008 U.S. junior dance champions. After battling injury all season and overcoming food poisoning this week, it is somewhat of a miracle that Madison & Keiffer were able to skate here in St. Paul. The only small glitch in their free dance came during the twizzles, where Keiffer accidentally did one more than Madison. Madison explained that “in the twizzles you are doing them so quickly that it can be really hard to count. Every once in a while you’ll spin faster or slower than you usually do. And sometimes you aren’t ready to check out or you over rotate and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Madison & Keiffer described their free dance as “aggressive, intimidating, with a touch of evil.” They won the competition based on their strong presentation marks and a series of level four elements. One of their strongest lifts had Keiffer in a back spiral position holding Madison parallel to the ice. Their victory in St. Paul was convincing, where they won by almost six points.

Before finding out they won their first junior title, Madison & Keiffer were asked what it would mean to win here.

“It would be amazing,” Madison said.

Talking to them after the free dance, it was evident how relieved and happy they were. It is safe to say they feel amazed reveling in the moment of their first junior national gold medal.

Piper Gilles & Tim McKernan skated as if they were gliding across the ice. Their free dance to Prokofiev’s “Cinderella” looked light and effortless, a contrast to Madison & Keiffer’s darker, more voidy presentation. Gilles & McKernan seemed extremely happy with their performance in the free dance. They should be – they received level fours on all of their elements, something which they have never achieved before at nationals. Last year, Gilles & McKernan placed fourth and just missed going to the Junior World Championships. That placement played a large factor in their motivation for this year.

“There was no way we were going to stay fourth. No way.” Gilles said.

Another motivation for Gilles & McKernan was the fact that Piper Gilles’ twin sister, Alexe, won the ladies junior title earlier this week.

“After Alexe skated, we just wanted to go out there and do it. And we did, too!” Piper Gilles, said.

Gilles & McKernan added yet another reason to skate well in St. Paul.

“This performance is dedicated to Tim’s dad,” Gilles added. Lt. Colonel Tim McKernan, Sr. is currently serving with U.S. Army in Iraq. “He is able to follow our skating on the Internet. He watches videos and we keep in touch through email.”

Taking the bronze medal was the team that had much success this year on the Junior Grand Prix: Madison Chock & Greg Zuerlein. They missed being in second by only 0.24 points. Along with Gilles & McKernan, Chock & Zuerlein achieved level fours on all of their elements. Their free skate to “West Side Story” was dynamic in expression and featured smooth, almost effortless transitions between elements. Chock was even able to show off her spinning abilities, doing a layback spin in the middle of the program.

Maia & Alex Shibutani continue to be surprised with the way they have skated this year. After moving up from novice and thinking this would be a building year, the siblings—who are the youngest ice dancers in St. Paul at any level—found themselves standing on the podium for a fourth consecutive year. Four years, four levels, four medals.

“I think we have achieved more than we had hoped to,” Alex said after the free dance. “Each year we take it as a next step. It is a long road. I’m really happy with how we skated.”

Maia & Alex have taken on a much more mature presentation in the free dance, skating in elegant black and white costumes to piano music by Jean Marie Senia. The impression they give while skating is one of complete control. One never worries about them making a mistake. In fact, they didn’t make one single obvious mistake while here in St. Paul. Maia & Alex plan on building on what they have already done this season going into next year. They attribute their success to their coaching switch to Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva in Canton, Mich.

“The training environment we are in is just great,” Maia said. “I think (training in Canton) has been really fundamental to our success this year,” Alex added.

Maybe the most emotional free dance of the night came from fifth place finishers Shannon Wingle & Ryan Devereaux. Wingle has been suffering from bilateral hamstring tears, which makes competing that much more difficult, but also that much more rewarding after skating well. Wingle & Devereaux wisely chose a piece of music that showed off their expression and musicality. “Concerto de Aranjuez” was a beautiful backdrop for their subtle choreography. They were on top of their game technically as well, achieving level fours on all of their elements. The soft tone they set at the beginning of the dance carried throughout their program, fading out quietly at the end. Wingle & Devereaux were greeted in the Kiss & Cry by their coaches, Shpilband and Zoueva, who looked thrilled with their teams’ performance.

Pilar Bosley & John Corona started the night in fifth, but a few costly errors in the free dance dropped them to sixth overall. Bosley & Corona were skating a good program to “Still Loving You” by the Scorpions until Bosley fell during some steps. After that, the team seemed to lose steam and never quite recovered, making small mistakes on the twizzles and circular step sequence.

After a costly fall in the original dance, Sara Bailey & Kyle Herring had something to prove in the free dance. During the warm-up, Bailey fell while practicing the circular step sequence. While performing, however, there was no indication that they had a shaky warm-up.

They redeemed themselves after the original dance by skating a fast and emotive program to music from “300” and “Chronicles of Narnia.” They placed seventh overall.

Anastasia Cannuscio & Dean Copley executed all of their elements with precision, skating a nice free dance to music from “Kill Bill.” A highlight of their program was a straight-line lift where he was holding her aloft while in a shoot-the-duck position. They finished eighth in the free dance and were in eighth overall.

Anastasia Cannuscio’s sister, Isabella, can claim that she beat her sister in one portion of the competition – the free dance. Isabella Cannuscio & Ian Lorello had one of the most unique lifts of the night. Lorello lifts Cannuscio up in front of him, and then sets her between his legs, grabbing her by the waste. She lets go of her hands, giving the illusion of flight. Cannuscio & Lorello finished seventh in the free dance and ended the evening in ninth.

Rachel Tibbetts & Colin Brubaker had a sudden mishap before their free skate. During the warm-up, Brubaker’s skate lace broke. When their names were called for the free dance, they were no where to be seen. Luckily, they were able to fix the lace and take the ice before it was too late. They skated well, but had a few mishaps in their program to “Tosca,” probably due to the hasty entrance they had to make onto the ice in order to start their program. Tibbetts & Brubaker finished the competition in tenth.

Rachael Richardson & Brad Coulter skated to a mix of tango music and wound up in eleventh place after the free dance. As Richardson & Coulter were getting into their final pose, one of them lost balance, causing both of them to fall to the ice. Coulter has been hampered by a knee injury all season, which has hurt their training time coming into Nationals. After they return home from St. Paul, Coulter will have surgery to repair the injury.

Finishing in twelfth just behind Richardson & Coulter were Kaylyn Patitucci & Karl Edelmann. Their skate in St. Paul marked only their third competition as a team. After a season together under their belt, it will be interesting to see how this team develops in the off-season.

Michelle Pennington & Andrew Skillington are another team competing together for only the third time. Their potential as a team is only beginning to show itself and with more training time they may be able to move up the junior rankings. They finished the competition in thirteenth.