 Michelle Wojdyla takes you on a trip back in time for some of her best U.S. Championships memories.
Notes from Friday, Jan 19
(1/19/07) - It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been over a year since I last blogged the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Where did the last 53 weeks go? I remember how often I heard “time goes faster as you get older” and it is so true. St. Louis seems both yesterday and 100 years ago.
After all the crazy weather this year, I promised the airport weather gods that I would not complain about any temperatures as long as I was transported safely and expediently from Newark, N.J. to Spokane and back. As I sit writing this, it is snowing in central New Jersey. It’s very light and doesn’t seem to be sticking. And I want to make it clear that this comment is not a complaint. It is simply an observation.
Editor's Note: Michelle's blog last year started with a picture of her cat, Huckleberry. Seems fitting Huckleberry gets a starring role again as he is left home for the week. He doesn't look happy, does he?
In about 24 hours I’ll be at the airport. I think I have everything I need, including new luggage since my last set took quite a beating en route to Missouri. Fingers crossed this carry-on doesn’t meet an untimely demise with an evil escalator. I shipped some things ahead to Spokane in an effort to make weight. It’s so much easier to pack for warm weather—the clothes are much less bulky. I also have a TENS unit I may need. I can’t imagine a little device with multiple electrodes and wires would go over well with airport security. Best to avoid the screening hassle and use UPS. My camera equipment always gets me pulled for a special search. No need to complicate matters.
This will be my second trip to Spokane. In 2002 I went for Skate America. It was quite the journey to get there. The night before I was photographing Scott Hamilton’s show in Philadelphia. After driving three hours home, there was only time to pack and drive to the airport. I didn’t get even one minute of sleep. No planes go nonstop from Newark, and I was using frequent flier miles, so I had to double-connect. (I remember the nightmare that was the very claustrophobic Seattle airport and made certain to avoid it this time.) I arrived in Spokane, ran to credentialing, and literally hit my photo position at the boards as the first group of compulsory dancers had taken the ice.
Like most events, I didn’t get to see much of the city. I do remember after it was over going out to dinner with "Spotlight on Skating" editor Lisa Herdman and some friends. Lisa said that earlier in the week she had gone to the restaurant with Alexei Yagudin and sat at a table under one of the Skate America posters. Alexei was one of the skaters featured in the poster, which created some double-takes by the restaurant staff.
Since 1995 I’ve attended 10 U.S. Championships, and Spokane will be my seventh as a media person. Each one has unique memories that set it apart from all the others.
1995-98
Being that ’95 was my first, of course it is very special to me. I was interested in pursuing work in skating and was looking to make contacts. One of the producers I had written to asked if I would like to meet in Providence, and I jumped at the chance. Problem was, I didn’t have tickets, hotel, anything. Fortunately, I was able to buy some tickets last minute, and the wonderful Lynn Rutherford allowed me to crash with her. The other obstacle? I was scheduled to work for Clinique that weekend. And I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but hey, it’s been over a decade. I used my makeup artist skills over the course of the day to make myself look sicker and sicker until I was sent home. I know. That’s very wrong. I do not encourage others to do the same.
I had taped the broadcasts of Providence, and when I played it back upon returning home, I saw myself quite clearly. During Rudy Galindo’s short program, it looks like I’m sitting on his shoulder when he takes a bow. No one ever said they saw me, though.
One of my biggest regrets is that I wasn’t able to be in San Jose in person for what almost everyone says was the most exciting moment in U.S. Championships history when Rudy won. I did go to Nashville in 1997. It was such an event with such uneven performances, like the nightmare free skate by Michelle Kwan contrasted with Tara Lipinski’s skate of her life. Jenni Meno fell to the ice on a death spiral (a death spiral?! Seriously?!), and Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen overcame a crater in the ice to win their first U.S. title.
The shuttle from the hotel to the practice arena had a little TV in it. The news was covering a hostage situation at a local convenient store. Dan Hollander was sitting in front of me and asked the driver if we could swing by to check things out. Needless to say, the driver declined. A bit later on the walkie talkie, we all heard “Does anyone have Todd Eldredge in their van?” Then comes a different voice, “I do. What’s up?” The first voice replies, “My wife is a big fan. Can you get his autograph?”
I remember very little about the1998 U.S. Championships in Philadelphia. I was very sick (karma for Providence?) and missed much of the skating. Of course I do remember the top group of ladies and the absolute perfection of Michelle Kwan’s free skate. This was also probably the only U.S. Championships where I saw the junior ladies. I remember really liking this Sarah Hughes girl and thinking she had potential.
In Salt Lake City in ’99, my greatest memory is getting lost every time we got in the car. Because they were doing so much construction in anticipation of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, streets that were open in the morning were closed in the afternoon. I think I saw more detours than skaters.
I was asked to lunch by some ladies from Birmingham, Alabama who were supporters of John Zimmerman. Their newspaper was looking for someone to cover him at events leading up to the Olympics. After seeing my work, the Birmingham News hired me as a freelancer, and I began covering the U.S. Championships the following year in Cleveland.
Maybe because it was my first as a photographer/writer, but Cleveland is still one of my favorite events I’ve ever covered. What started out as a couple of articles and photos of Ina and Zimmerman, became quite the week. I was asked to take some photos of this junior kid’s short program for his local paper in Illinois.
 His name was Evan Lysacek.
After Evan placed well in the short program, I was asked to get some photos from the long program. Logistically this was challenging, as senior pairs was the same day as junior men. Being that this was in the days before digital photography became the norm, I had my work cut out for me. The woman who was writing the article created our plan. I would make sure all Evan’s photos were on one roll of film. She would run down to the railing over my camera position and take the handoff. Then she booked over to the photo lab. About an hour later I bolted from the arena to the photo lab, grabbed the prints, took them back to my hotel room where I scanned the best ones using a large flatbed scanner and then emailed them via dial up internet to the newspaper.
And then Evan goes and wins the event!
Lather rinse repeat for the medal ceremony. Whew!
But I did get my first front page Sunday newspaper color photo (yes, that's the one on this page of Evan Lysacek!).
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