Nathan Chen is the reigning national champion and well outscored the field in his sectional event. I think he should be able to repeat here. He has a ton of personality on the ice and is generally pretty consistent in his jumps and has good difficulty. He won't be eligible for the Olympics until 2018 so his coaches seem to be doing the right thing physically and mentally by not pushing him to develop too quickly even though most competitiors would have moved up to juniors after winning the national title.
He will be contending with a mix of returning competitors to the novice level; skaters moving up from intermediate, including last season's intermediate champion, and skaters who did not attend nationals last season. The rest of the field seems to be pretty evenly matched and it should be a good competition for the remaining spots on the podium.
The skaters:
Nathan Chen: He is the reigning Novice National Champion. He is the 2009 Intermediate National Silver medalist and the 2008 Juvenile National Bronze medalist. He qualified with a first place finish at Pacific Coast Sectionals with a score of 140.88.
Jack Newberry: He qualified with a first place finish at Eastern Sectionals with a score of 118.39. He finished 15th at nationals last season at the intermediate level.
Nix Phengsy: He qualified with a second place finish at Pacific Coast Sectionals with a score of 127.23. He is the reigning intermediate silver medalist.
Spencer Howe: He qualified with a 3rd place finish at Pacific Coast Sectionals with a score of 119.19. He finished 11th at nationals last season at the intermediate level.
Jordan Moeller: He qualified with a 3rd place finish at Midwestern Sectionals with a score of 125.92. He is the reigning national intermediate champion.
Alexander Bjelde: He qualified with a 4th place finish at Eastern Sectionals with a score of 109.56. He finished 7th at nationals last season at the intermediate level.
Lukas Kaugars: He qualified with a first place finish at Midwestern Sectionals with a score of 127.07. He finished 8th at nationals last season as a novice.
Andrew Nagode: He qualified with a second place finish at Eastern Sectionals with a score of 116.94.
Troy Tomasello: He qualified with a second place finish at Midwestern Sectionals with a score of 126.78. He finished 12th at nationals last season as a novice.
Marcus Mimidis: He qualified with a 3rd place finish at Eastern Sectionals with a score of 113.45.
Cale Ambroz: He qualified with a 4th place finish at Midwestern Sectionals with a score of 116.80.
Kevin Shum: He qualified for nationals with a 5th place finish at Pacific Coast Sectionals. He finished 6th at nationals at the intermediate level last season.
Cordero Zuckerman had qualified for nationals but had to withdraw.
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