Chicago Jazz and Hockettes Will Represent U.S. at World Junior Competition
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| Chicago Jazz Photo by Paul Harvath |
(1/20/05) — While the top skaters in singles, ice dancing and pairs were competing at the 2005 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, synchronized skaters were just beginning their competitive season.
Due to the early entry deadline for the synchronized skating World Challenge Cup for Juniors, a special qualifying event was held Jan. 15-16 to select the 2005 U.S. World Junior Synchronized Skating Team. The qualifying event coincided with the Mid-America Synchronized Skating Championships in Fraser, Mich.
At the qualifying event, the Hockettes f Ann Arbor, Mich., took a strong lead in the short, completing the only clean program of the competition and earning seven of nine first-place marks. Their program was technically difficult with good speed, power and flow and a wonderful line element. Skating last in the free skate, the team put on a very entertaining program to “Beauty and the Beast.” Although not as aggressive as their short program, the free skate did include a creative movement in isolation that included layback spins and shoot-the-ducks, strong edges and flow, and good footwork. Their free skate performance earned them two first-place ordinals and a second-place finish overall.
The Chicago Jazz, decked out in black dresses with silver trim, skated a powerful short program to “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly. Despite a high level of difficulty, the team made one error — a trip and break in their second intersection, which kept them out of the lead. In the free skate, Chicago Jazz excelled, however, winning first-place marks from all but two judges. Their music was from “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and complemented their strengths — speed, power and difficulty. They opened with a line sequence to a fast, no-hold block with good free skating elements, and built to an ending movement in isolation that included several free skating elements such as flying camels, spread eagles and split jumps.
In third place was Team Elan who put forth a good effort but encountered timing problems in their short program to “Walk this Way” by Aerosmith, and had a few mistakes in their free skate to “The Pink Panther.” The Colonials finished fourth in both segments, followed by Fraser Eclipse.
The Chicago Jazz and the Hockettes will represent the United States at the World Challenge Cup for Juniors, March 10-13, in Neuchatel, Switzerland.
