by Laura Fawcett and Kelly Hodge
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| Chicago Jazz Photo by Paul Harvath |
Event Results, News and Photos
(2/24/05) — The Chicago Jazz junior team took a step toward reclaiming the title they lost last year by winning the short program Thursday night at the 2005 U.S. Synchronized Team Skating Championships.The judges awarded the Jazz the edge in a 5-4 split for the team's program set to “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly.
“I'm proud of them,” said head coach Lisa Darken. “All you can hope for is a clean skate, and that's what they did. The short is always the hardest one to do.”
Darken showed how proud she was while the team waited in the kiss and cry for its marks — she smiled at them and said in jest, “You got your job done … no one's fired.”
The Jazz had no significant mistakes in the program and highlighted their skating skills with good step sequences.
Anyone who has seen the movie “Center Stage” would recognize the music used in the Hockettes' (Ann Arbor FSC) short program. In one scene of the movie, a group of dancers strut their stuff to music by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Hockettes coach Erin Donovan used that music as inspiration this year.
It turned out to be a good choice as the Hockettes are in second place heading into Friday's free skate. The team transitioned nicely through all the required elements, including a fast traveling wheel with footwork, a back lunge intersection, and a box intersection with turns and a back approach.
“Walking” into third place was Team Elan (Detroit SC), who used Aerosmith's classic rock anthem “Walk This Way” to entertain the crowd. Coach Brooke Sloan said mentally this is a “whole different team” than the one that finished third last month at the World Junior Qualifying Competition. That third-place finish kept them off the World Junior Team as the two spots went to the Chicago Jazz and Hockettes.
“They don't have any pressure on them,” Sloan said of her team. "They wanted to show that they can skate a great program. This one's for them.”
Sloan said her key to coaching is making it enjoyable, and that's one of the reasons she chose “Walk This Way.”
“If they (the skaters) don't enjoy it, it's not worth it,” she said. “This is a great piece of music and the girls love it.”
Fraser Eclipse (Fraser FSC) is in fourth after a good performance to “What a Wonderful World.” Fraser had a good no-hold block section, ending in a four-line block with forward inside spirals.
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