Samuelson and Bates Move Up to Take Junior Dance Gold
by Daphne Backman
 (1/24/07) - Ann Arbor, Mich., is officially the home of rising U.S. dancers. Couples from Ann Arbor occupied the top three spots on the podium after the junior ice dancing event concluded Wednesday afternoon at the 2007 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Just .17 points separated the gold and silver medalists.
Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates, in second after the compulsory and original dance event phases, earned all level fours for their elements in route to winning the gold. Their program to “Thalia’s Hits Remixed” maximized the technical difficulty while also showcasing Samuelson’s flexibility and their expression, creating a fun performance for the audience. The team had some ground to make up after their mistake in the original dance.
”We were definitely a little nervous, but I’d say we were excited,” Samuelson said. “We just wanted to show what we could do in the free dance – that’s all that really mattered. The fall in the original dance – it’s unfortunate, but those things happen. We just had to bounce back.”
Samuelson and Bates are the first team to be rewarded all level fours at the U.S. Championships since the international judging system was introduced at the 2006 event.
”It feels sweet,” Bates said. “That hasn’t happened yet this season, at all. We’ll definitely take it as encouraging.”
Training mates Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbell, the leaders after the first two phases, drew the audience in with their performance to "Canto Alla Vita" by Josh Groban. The program has been successful for the duo this season. The team received mostly level fours and two level threes for their elements.
“This time we had a little more difficulty in the footwork and we didn’t get the kind of levels that we wanted, but we are happy with our performance,” Madison said. “We’re aware that Evan and Emily are amazing skaters and we expect to be competing with them no matter what. It could go either way. We’re just happy it was close.”
Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt finished fourth in the free dance but were able to retain third place. Words can’t describe how they feel about their U.S. Championships moment.
”It didn’t really hit me until the end of the free dance,” Kriengkrairut said. “I was sitting there and I looked around and just went ‘Wow.’”
“We couldn’t even have expected anything close to this,” Giulietti-Schmitt said. We’re just thrilled. We’ve only been skating together for five months, so it’s amazing. There have been little ups and downs with getting used to a new partnership right from the beginning, but things have been great overall. We couldn’t have expected more for our skating and our chemistry on the ice.”
The fourth step on the podium belongs to the Broadmoor SC’s Piper Gilles and Tim McKernan (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Gilles and McKernan skated an aggressive performance to finish third in the free dance; just .39 from the bronze medal. The team finished seventh at the 2006 championships on the novice level and moving to junior was a risk that paid off.
“Moving up to from novice to the junior level was a good decision,” McKernan said. “Taking the pewter medal is really good. At junior, you just have more opportunities to do international events. It took us to the next level.”
“We weren’t expecting to get fourth,” Gilles said. “We thought maybe sixth or seventh.”
Shannon Wingle and Ryan Devereaux finished fifth, with Pilar Bosley and John Corona placed sixth. |