2006 Southwest Pacific Sectionals

The judges assemble for the senior ladies short program.

I just returned from Pacific Coast Sectionals. My plans for tonight were cancelled at the last minute, so I decided to head over to Mountlake Terrace to catch the senior ladies short programs. I didn't takes notes of jumps or anything. Mostly I just tried to sit back and enjoy some good skating without dwelling on the negatives.

I took a few photos, but I'm not a photographer so about 99% of them were unusable. ;-) I've posted the few which turned out merely decent.

Short Program Results

1) Danielle Kahle was the class of the field tonight with a really strong short program to some kind of jazzy music. I'm not usually a fan of pantsuits but her costume looked great on her and was a perfect fit for her program. She had an air of confidence about her that was refreshing to watch, and she was definitely the most finished skater of the evening. I was pleased to finally see her skate to such a mature program...and skate well at that.

2) Erin Reed gave my favorite performance of the night. Crisp, consistant, clean with strong edges. She was thrilled with her performance and so was her coach...who did a little jig by the boards.

3) Becky Hughes skated to a Gershwin medley; it sounded like parts of the "Overture" from the Crazy for You Original Broadway Cast recording. It was a fun, well packaged performance with a nice double axel executed way late in the program.

Becky Hughes prepares
for her short program.

4) Karen Zhou skated to music which sounded classical at first but then turned quickly into techno. She's a tiny dynamo with great overall speed and some really interesting spins.

Tiny Karen Zhou speeds across the ice.

5) Margaret Wang had one of the springiest double axel I've seen in a long time. Despite a hard fall on one of her jumps, she was a very clean overall skater, if that makes sense.

6) Jessica Martino deserves the prize for pluckiest skater of the night. She had a disastrous warm-up with several hard falls, but she landed both triples (loop and toe) in her actual program. She did have a hard fall on her double axel though, but she powered through the other two jumps. She's such a soft, lyrical skater and lovely to watch.

Jessica Martino tries to block out
a tough warm-up...and succeeds!

7) Tashe Smith from San Francisco was another one of my favorites. She had a real regal look on the ice...very powerful jumper with sold spins. She was a lot of fun to watch.

Tashe takes a break during warm-up.

8) Crystal Shum skated to what sounded like a Middle Eastern piece. She had a hard fall on one of her triples (some kid stood up in front of me right before her take-off so I missed identifying the jump). Her double axel was gorgeous...really flew over the ice.

9) Jacquelyn Garces used a movie soundtrack I couldn't place and it was driving me crazy as I tried to recall where I'd heard it. She was one of the faster skaters but had a number of jump problems.

10) Hometown girl Olivia Olsen had one of the loudest cheering sections I've ever heard at a smaller event. Skating to "Time to Say Goodbye", she was really enjoying the hometown supprt and it showed in her really joyous skating and even her playful bow at the end. It was a solid performance. Her double axel may have been two-footed, but I don't think it mattered to her "fan club" who gave her a standing ovation. ;-)

11) Crystal Williams had the misfortune of having her music ("Moonlight Sonata") start skipping just as she was heading into her double axel. She had to stop her program, confer with the judges and then skate back to her coach who pulled a backup disc from her purse. Crystal looked understandably frazzled by the incident, yet she skated pretty well considering the mix-up.

12) Anna Madorsky came out for the warm up and I immediately thought of Alice Sue Claeys, one of my all-time favorite lesser-known skaters. It was the hair ;-) which was done in a real funky style reminiscent of Alice's look for her 99 long program at US Nationals. Parts of her music sound like Fumie Suguri's long program this year, but who knows. She had a rough time with her jumps, but it was a real kick to watch...definitely the most original program of the night. It was a blast watching a skater who didn't seem the least bit interested in comforming to the typical ice princess look and style.

Anna Madorsky- A cross between
Olga Korbut and Alice Sue Claeys. ;-)

13) Stephanie Smith wins the award for quirkiest musical selections. They weren't bad; they just ran the full gamut of selections. Her program started off with "Singing in the Rain" segued into "The Pink Panther Theme" and then back to "Singing in the Rain" and then a little "Big Spender" and I think she ended with "The Pink Panther Theme" again. It was a fun, flirty program but the jumps just weren't there tonight. :-(