{"id":34824,"date":"2024-01-31T23:34:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T04:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=34824"},"modified":"2024-01-31T23:34:38","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T04:34:38","slug":"recap-2024-u-s-championships-junior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/recap-2024-u-s-championships-junior\/","title":{"rendered":"Recap: 2024 U.S. Championships \u2013 Junior"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Anne Calder<\/em><\/p>\n

The 2024 U.S. National Championships were hosted by Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The downtown venue, home of the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets, is an official NHL sized ice surface. However, the actual ice was adjusted for the USFS competition. The OhioHealth Ice Haus, also inside the main arena and NHL sized, was the official practice ice. The location allowed easy access for the athletes to run through their programs and for fans to observe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rhythm Dance
<\/b>The Junior ice dancers skated their Rhythm Dance the first evening immediately following the Novice patterns. The judges, referees and technical panel remained the same for both levels. The only change was Specialist 1 became Specialist 2 and vice-versa for the Junior event.<\/p>\n

The 1980\u2019s themed Rhythm Dance had the audience moving and singing along with the music.<\/p>\n

Leah Neset & Artem Markelov soared to an early lead with a 75.03 score to \u201cStill Loving You\u201d by the Scorpions and \u201cI Hate Myself for Loving You\u201d by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. The Colorado Springs trained team hit all eight positive Key Points for their Rocker Foxtrot pattern. The lift and twizzles both earned level four.<\/p>\n

Jenna Hauer & Benjamin Starr danced into second place with Tina Turner\u2019s pop, rock signature song, \u201cThe Best\u201d. The team earned seven of eight positive pattern Key Points and scored 64.55 points.<\/p>\n

Yahli Pedersen & Jeffrey Chen made their Nationals team debut with \u201cA Kind of Magic\u201d and \u201cUnder Pressure\u201d by Queen. The MIDA-based team scored 63.88 for third place. The rotational lift earned level 4.<\/p>\n

Caroline Mullen & Brendan Mullen scored 61.08 and placed fourth. The siblings chose \u201cWake Me Up Before You Go\u201d by WHAM and \u201cFather Figure\u201d by George Michael for their music. The twizzles and lift were level 4.<\/p>\n

Elliana Peal & Ethan Peal scored 60.95 for their dance to Janet Jackson\u2019s \u201cWhat Have You Done for Me Lately\u201d and \u201cRhythm Nation.\u201d The Nashville team earned level 3 twizzles and a level 4 rotational lift.<\/p>\n

Kristina Bland & Matthew Sperry used Paula Abdul\u2019s \u201cStraight Up\u201d and \u201cCold Hearted\u201d to score 52.74. The Novi, Michigan team had a bobble on the rotational lift and received a negative GOE, but earned level 4 for their twizzles.<\/p>\n

Free Dance
<\/b>The Free Dance began with 2023 U.S. Champions, Neset & Markelov with a commanding 10 point lead. The team had a gold medal performance to \u201cAnytime, Anywhere\u201d by Sara Brightman and \u201cCry\u201d by Thomas Bergersen. The 109.08 program score and 184.11 total were personal bests.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Markelov spoke about their skate.\u201c We tried to enjoy our performance today and improve our core elements.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think we accomplished that,\u201d Neset added.<\/p>\n

Pederson and Chen moved up a notch from third place in the Rhythm Dance and scored a season best 95.09 for their \u201cPhantom of the Opera\u201d performance to earn the silver medal. Their total score was 158.97.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just here to skate and do our jobs, so anything on top of that is an added bonus,\u201d Chen said.<\/p>\n

The Peal siblings vaulted from fifth to third place to claim the bronze medal with a mesmerizing performance to selections from the Lord of the Rings<\/i> soundtrack. The program scored 91.15; the total was 152.10.<\/p>\n

Elliana Peal\u00a0on their performance, \u201cGoing into this free dance, there was definitely a lot of pressure because of [the] rhythm [dance] \u2013 although I thought we skated one of our best rhythms in the whole season. It wasn\u2019t in our hands yesterday, so going into today, we had a very open mindset and nothing to lose. It helped us push through and it was up to us to give it our all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hauer & Starr slipped to fifth place after a fall in the Choreographic Slide element. Their program, which included music from Notre-Dame de Paris <\/i>scored 86.45. The 2024 Ice Dance Final gold medalists scored a total 151.00 to earn the pewter medal. The team missed both JGP assignments this season due to injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to withdraw from our assigned JGP and all our international assignments early on,\u201d Starr said. \u201cIt was a very difficult decision especially for me since I injured my back, which prevents you from doing anything. In July, I didn\u2019t think I was going to be here. I\u2019m so thankful to show you what we can do even if we didn\u2019t have much time to prepare and develop it as much as we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hauer added, \u201cToday isn\u2019t exactly how we wanted to show it, but that doesn\u2019t take away our love for it at all…It didn\u2019t quite go right but this isn\u2019t the end for us. It\u2019s just one day, and we\u2019re looking forward to continuing to perform this program.<\/p>\n

The Mullen siblings slipped to fifth and out of medal contention after a disappointing twizzle set. The team danced to \u201cSurvivor\u201d as a personal tribute for their fight back after missing the entire previous season due to injury. The program scored 88.63 and totaled 149.71.<\/p>\n

Bland & Sperry finished sixth with music by Klergy – \u201cCaught in the Fire\u201d and \u201cThe Beginning of the End\u201d (Ft. Valerie Broussard). The edgy, raw sounding program earned 81.11. Both programs totaled 133.85.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur free dance was strong in the components score which was what we\u2019ve been training hard for. I felt like we definitely gave all we had to portraying our characters, and it showed our theme well,\u201d Sperry noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this was our last season at the junior level we tried to set ourselves up to skate at the senior level by watching the amazing senior teams at our rink and copying their flow and presence on the ice. We feel we have a strong foundation and look forward to creating new senior programs!\u201d<\/p>\n

Columbus Clips<\/b><\/p>\n