Mahbanoozadeh Sails to Short Program Lead
by Michelle Wojdyla

“They all know, since it’s live on the Internet. I haven’t gotten to tell anyone how I did,” Mahbanoozadeh lamented.

It’s tight at the top of the novice men’s leaderboard. Seven men all passed 40 points, and less than a point separate the top three after the short program contested today at the Spokane Convention Center. Fifteen-year-old Mahbanoozadeh holds the lead with a score of 45.50 with his “Beetlejuice” program. Scott Dyer, also 15, is close behind with 45.43, and 16-year-old Alexander Johnson is third with 44.62.

“It is really close in the marks,” Mahbanoozadeh said. “There’s so much that can happen. It’s still anyone’s game, really.”

After fighting for the landing on his opening triple Lutz-double toe combination, Mahbanoozadeh went into his footwork and nailed his triple flip. He broke into a huge smile and sailed through the rest of his program, receiving all level 3s and 4s on his spins and footwork, and incorporating the most graceful arm movements of the event.

“I felt pretty good going into it,” Mahbanoozadeh said. “I was more nervous yesterday, actually. I didn’t really feel much pressure. I just went out there thinking I could do it. I’ve done it a million times in practice. I just really had a lot of fun. The biggest hurdle was the double Axel, which I’ve missed so many times this year. I was just really excited to get that done. I had some pretty bad falls on it.”

Last year in St. Louis, Scott Dyer also found himself in second place after the short program. This year, skating to “Espana Cani,” Dyer performed a near perfect program, earning only four negative GoEs out of the 54 possible marks.

“I didn’t think about the jumps, I just did them like I’ve been doing them in practice all week,” Dyer said. “It was automatic pilot for me. The last couple competitions it hasn’t been the whole package, and this one came together, so I’m really happy.”

After falling to fourth overall last year, Dyer comes into Spokane with a year’s worth of experience and knowledge on how to step to a higher spot on the podium.

“I know what’s going to happen. I know the pressure I’m going to be under,” Dyer explained. “Last year, it kind of came over me. [This year I need to] just stay calm between the warm-up and the program and just trust [my] training.”

The final skater of the night, Alexander Johnson, gave a mature performance to Saint-Saens’ “Cello Concerto #1.” He landed a triple Lutz-double toe and a triple flip, and his spins and footwork were all level 3. His only error came on his final move, popping his attempted double Axel into a low single.

“When I went to take off, I leaned way far forward and I kind of rushed the take off, so I couldn’t get into the air quick enough. It just was a mess,” Johnson explained. “At first I was really nervous, but once I got out there I was fine. There are a lot of people here, so that made me pumped up. I was really happy with how I skated.”

Johnson pulled the highest component scores among the 12 competitors.

“That’s a strong part of my skating,” he said. “My Lutz and my flip were really strong, and so were my spins. I thought I would be on the border (of being in podium contention,) but once my scores came up, I was really excited.”

The novice men conclude tomorrow at the much larger venue, the Spokane Arena.

“I really like skating in front of a lot of people because I thrive off that,” Johnson said. “It makes me want to do my best. I’m really, really excited for that because I really like my long. I’m just going to take one element at a time and hopefully it will go my way.”

Mahbanoozadeh has a strategy he learned after a problem in Saturday’s practice.

“Don’t look at the lights! They blinded me in practice and I forgot my program. I’m just going to try to stay calm and don’t try to think about it too much. That doesn’t really work too well. Just stay calm and in the moment.”

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