Brubaker and McLaughlin Continue Impressive Inaugural Season
by Troy Schwindt

That was to then 12-year-old Keauna McLaughlin.

Now almost a year later, that decision has proven to be a wise one.

McLaughlin and Brubaker continued their sizzling inaugural campaign together by winning the junior pairs short program at the 2007 State Farm U.S. Championships on Tuesday in Spokane, Wash.

In front of a capacity matinee audience of 4,000 at the new Convention Center arena, the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based tandem put together a personal-best program that earned them 61.76 points, about six points better than their previous-best mark. Longtime partners Bianca Butler and Joseph Jacobsen of Aliso Viejo, Calif., finished second at 54.48, while last year’s novice champions, Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss, were third with marks totaling 53.93.

The junior pairs free skate is slated for Thursday at 11:10 a.m. at Spokane Arena.

“Once we had the trial (February 2006) we knew we had a good thing right off the bat,” said the 20-year-old Brubaker, who is a college student and works in the lumber and materials department at Home Depot.

“It just clicked,” added McLaughlin, an eighth-grader at Cheyenne Mountain Middle School.

Sappenfield, who also coaches Paetsch and Nuss, said the skating styles of McLaughlin and Brubaker matched well.

“Both are very classical, very lyrical type skaters,” she said. “We’ve really tried to focus on getting the program to show that off while working on their connection together as a team. We are really looking at the big picture and not just one season’s success. So, we are working toward looking like seniors and that maturation.”

McLaughlin, Sappenfield added, “is one tough cookie. She’s come a long way. She had to learn how to do throw triples; she’d never done them before. Skating with someone like Rockne, who is a very powerful skater, she was able to pick it up. She’s fearless. She’s had some bumps along the way and she’s just worked through them. It makes her a great pairs skater.”

McLaughlin’s talents undoubtedly in part come from her mother, who skated in Disney on Ice during her career.

In Spokane, the duo kicked off their short program to music from the “Somewhere in Time” soundtrack by John Barry with a level four lift. A throw triple Salchow and level fours on their combination spin, spiral sequence, and pairs combination spin sent the crowd into a virtual frenzy.

The pair had been training hard the last few weeks leading up to the competition, and they put it all together when it counted most.

“Each competition we’ve gotten better,” McLaughlin said. “We fed off the audience, it was amazing.”

The short program victory is the latest in a perfect season together. They won both of their Junior Grand Prix events and captured the Junior Grand Prix Final in December in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Butler, 17, and Jacobsen, 19, have skated together since 2000 and it showed in Spokane.

Their throw triple Salchow and level fours on their lift, spiral sequence and pairs combination spin won the hearts of the judges and fans.

“I thought that was one of our best performances of the year,” Butler said. “We’ve been working really hard on our short and long programs.”

Jacobsen jokingly said he didn’t feel any nerves heading into the short program because of a fluke accident involving his coach, three-time U.S. pairs champion Todd Sand.

“I asked him to tighten my blade because my blade was loose before I got on the ice,” Jacobsen said. “The screwdriver slipped and he cut his hand, so he’s at the hospital getting stitches.”

According to Sand’s wife, co-coach Jenni Meno, Sand cut a tendon and may likely required stitches.

“I felt pretty horrible,” Jacobsen said, “but it kind of took my nerves off the short program. I was ready to go.”

Paetsch, 13, and Nuss, 19, turned in a solid program to music from the movie “Anastasia.” They had one miscue on their throw twist.

“I caught her a little high on her torso and it slipped off, so I couldn’t stop the rotation very well and she slipped out of it,” Nuss said.

Other than that, they enjoyed level fours on their spiral sequence, lift and pairs spin, along with their throw triple Salchow.

The top finish by two of her teams, Sappenfield said, was especially satisfying.

“Having teams that are very competitive with each other is very positive for us,” Sappenfield said. “They push each other in a healthy way. They are each other’s best friends, so they support each other. They competed with each other internationally this year and were usually in the same warm-up. In this system you are competing against yourself.”

Kaela Pflumm and Christopher Pottenger are in fourth.

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