Eastern Sectionals Junior Men's Results

Place	Start No.	Name	Short Program		Free Skate		Total Score
			Place	Score	Place	Score
1	7	Jay Yostanto, SC of New York	1	52.74	1	96.74	149.48
2	6	Jimmy Ma, SC of New York	2	49.54	4	92.27	141.81
3	11	James Schetelich, SC of New York	5	45.05	2	96.69	141.74
4	8	Marcus Mimidis, SC of Wilmington	3	48.97	5	89.62	138.59
5	3	Andrew Nagode, University of Delaware FSC	7	43.56	3	93.74	137.30
6	10	Patrick Rupp, Citrus FSC	4	48.00	6	83.20	131.20
7	9	Trevor Bergqvist, Amherst SC	6	44.29	7	81.08	125.37
8	4	Joseph Dolkiewicz, SC Of Southern New Jersey	8	38.61	8	66.00	104.61
9	5	Liam Beatson, SC Of Boston	9	29.96	9	56.30	86.26
10	2	Matthew Essigmann, Ithaca FSA	11	23.21	10	44.98	68.19
WD		Matej Silecky, SC of New York	10	24.29

JGP Lake Placid Men's Preview

Joshua Farris is the most experienced competitor in this event and is the reigning JGPF bronze medalist and Junior Worlds silver medalist.  He can easily score over 200 points and has a consistent triple axel and quad toe.  He contemplated going senior internationally this season but decided to stay junior and will be looking to improve upon last season and challenge Han Yan.

Keiji Tanaka won the silver medal at Junior Worlds in 2011 and won two medals on the Junior Grand Prix.  He failed to medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final and dropped to 7th at Junior Worlds.  He'll have to improve on his consistency if he wants to make it back to the Junior Worlds podium.

June Hyoung Lee of Korea did well on the Junior Grand Prix last season taking home one bronze medal and just missing the podium in his second event.  He fell to 18th at Junior Worlds but at just 14 years old, he has plenty of time to make his mark on the junior scene.

Vladislav Tarasenko of Russia finished 6th at his lone JGP event last season and has the chance to make the podium at this event.  Martin Rappe of Germany is another dark horse for the podium having finished just outside the top 10 at Junior Worlds last season.

Two American men are making their international debut after winning medals at nationals as novices last season.  Four other skaters are making their international debuts and five skaters are making their JGP debuts.

My podium predictions:
Gold: Joshua Farris
Silver: Keiji Tanaka
Bronze: June Hyoung Lee

Bios of the competitors:
Jordan Dodds, AUS: This is his JGP debut.   He is 18 years old.

Roman Sadovsky, CAN: This is his international debut.  He is 13 years old.

Chih-I Tsao, TPE: He finished 23rd at Junior Worlds.  He placed 11th at JGP Australia last season.  His personal best is 133.24.  He is 14 years old.

Viktor Zubik, FIN: He placed 9th at JGP Estonia last season.  His personal best is 138.97.  He is 18 years old.

Martin Rappe, GER: He placed 11th at Junior Worlds.  He finished 7th at JGP Latvia and 6th at JGP Italy last season.  His personal best is 171.38.  He is 19 years old.

Jack Newberry, GBR: He placed 12th at JGP Estonia last season.  His personal best is 117.54.  He is 17 years old.

Harry Hau Yin Lee, HKG: He finished 27th in the preliminary round at Worlds and 25th at Four Continents.  He placed 19th at JGP Austria last season.  His personal best is 115.00.  He is 18 years old. 

Conor Stakelum, IRL: This is his international debut. 

Artem Tsoglin, ISR: This is his international debut.  He is 14 years old. 

Taichi Honda, JPN: This is his JGP debut.  He is 14 years old.

Keiji Tanaka, JPN: He placed 7th at Junior Worlds.  He won silver at JGP Australia and bronze at JGP Austria to qualify for the JGP Final last season where he finished 6th.  His personal best is 196.98.  He is 17 years old.

Bryan Christopher Tan, MAS: This is his JGP debut.  He is 15 years old.

Michael Christian Martinez, PHI: He placed 15th at Junior Worlds.  He finished 8th at JGP Australia last season.  His personal best is 165.10.  He is 15 years old.

June Hyoung Lee, KOR: He finished 18th at Junior Worlds.  He placed 4th at JGP Latvia and won bronze at JGP Italy last season.  His personal best is 176.48.  He is 14 years old.

Adian Pitkeev, RUS: This is his international debut.

Vladislav Tarasenko, RUS: He finished 6th at JGP Poland last season.  His personal best is 161.70.  He is 15 years old.

Sinthawachiwa Phiriyiphon, THA: He placed 21st at JGP Romania last season.  His personal best is 78.75.  He is 16 years old.

Yaroslav Paniot, UKR: This is his JGP debut.  He placed 9th at the Youth Olympic Games last season.  His personal best is 132.55.  He is 14 years old.

Joshua Farris, USA: He is the reigning Junior World Silver Medalist.  He won gold at JGP Poland and JGP Estonia last season to qualify for the JGP Final where won bronze.  His personal best is 221.97.  He is 17 years old.

Spencer Howe, USA: This is his international debut.

James Schetelich, USA: This is his international debut.  He is 16 years old.

U.S. Nationals: Novice Men's Free Skate

Tony Lu:

Wilbur Ji:

Oleksiy Melnyk:

Chase Belmontes:

Brian Krentz:

Kyle Shropshire: 37.69 TES + 39.35 PCS = 77.04 Total: 116.16 and into 3rd place

• Nice double axel + triple toe to open the program
• Step out of the triple flip
• Nice solid triple toe
• Good camel spin position but it takes him a bit to make the transition into the sit portion of the spin
• Step out of the triple salchow
• Not a very attractive broken leg position in the camel but a nice broken leg in the sit position
• Good double flip
• Triple lutz + double toe + single loop
• Interesting hydroblade with his free leg up in the air
• He doesn't seem to have enough umph behind this step sequence and there isn't a lot of use of his upper body
• Good double axel but his free leg was really low on the landing

Vincent Zhou: 59.56 TES + 52.95 PCS = 112.51  Total: 164.96

•  I love how excited he was to see himself on the jumbotron!
• Nice solid opening triple lutz with a good ride out on the landing
• Good triple flip
• Double axel + triple toe
• Nice stretched out positions in his spin and while he doesn't have a lot of speed it remains constant
• A little forward on the trople loop but he hangs on
• Nice camel position but he needs a little more stretch through the catch foot
• Nice triple flip + double toe
• Good speed and ice coverage through this footwork into his triple lutz + double toe + double loop
• He rotates so quickly
• Nice use of his upper body throughout this step sequence and he really gets across the ice quickly
• Triple salchow with a one arm variation on the landing
• Really nice sit spin position with a twist and good speed
• WOW!  He nailed it and got people on their feet.

Jimmy Ma: 39.32 TES + 46.09 PCS = 85.41 Total: 129.29 and into 2nd place

• He opens with a triple + double toe + double loop
• I'm not sold on his jump technique as he gets hunched over and clenches his hands before takeoff but it seems to be working for him for now
• Another beautiful triple flip
• Triple toe + double toe combo right on the music with great height
• Another nice triple
• Pops open his double axel into a single axel + single toe combo
• Triple flip and he hangs on to the landing
• The thing I really like about novice events is that the crowd is quieter and you can hear the coach's reaction
• Double axel was a struggle, probably only a single
• Lots of turns in this step sequence and a few difficult stops of rotation
• Nice twisted sit position

Nicholas Vrdoljak: 37.45 TES + 40.77 PCS -1.00 = 77.22 Total: 123.82 and into 4th place

•  Triple toe + triple toe to open his program
• Triple flip a little forward on the landing
• Fall on the triple lutz
• Very nice camel position but he could be lower on his sit spin
• Pops open the flip into a single + double toe
• Single axel + double toe
• Good twisted camel position with nice speed into a nice broken leg sit spin
• He seems to be wobbling on a few of these edge changes in the one foot section of his footwork but I really like how the movement flows through his whole body
• Double salchow
• Double axel with a really low landing but he hangs on to it
• Nice speed in the twisted sit spin

Kevin Shum: 39.28 TES + 42.55 PCS = 81.83 Total: 132.68 and into 2nd place

•  Pops his opening jump into a single
• Single lutz
• He has a wonderful arabesque position and it really shows in the camel and I even like his triangle position
• I like that he still has a pleasant expression on his face after two big mistakes
• Single loop
• Triple flip
• Really close to the boards in a section of his footwork but he keeps pushing through it
• I'd really like to see him stretch through this footwork and really over emphasize the lyrical quality
• Triple lutz + double toe + double loop with a one arm variation
• Really good twisted sit position
• Triple loop + double toe with a little bit of a step back on the second jump
• Double axel + single toe
• I really like that he never gave up on this program despite the problems in the beginning.  That says A LOT about him as a competitor that he fought through and came back with a strong finish.

James Schetelich: 44.40 TES + 48.92 PCS = 93.32 Total: 139.77 and into 2nd place

•  Triple lutz + double toe to open his program
• Double loop and he never got his body fully pulled in for the rotation
• Triple flip + double toe
• Triple lutz
• Nice position in his camel spin with a nice transition into the catch foot and good speed
• Double axel and he catches his free leg on the landing and stumbles a bit
• He could use more stretch through his free leg in the sit position and his working leg in the upright position
•  A lot of twists and turns in the step sequence but not much in his upper body
• Triple flip
• Triple salchow
• Nice transitions between positions in his final spin

Spencer Howe: 45.26 TES + 43.90 PCS -1.00 = 88.16 Total: 134.22 and into 3rd place

• Triple lutz and he squeezes out the landing
• Triple toe
• Triple loop was close to the boards but he lands it
• Good camel spin position into a really nice sit spin position with great speed
• Really nice twisted sit spin position
• Triple salchow + double toe with no speed at the end of either jump
• Really hard fall on the triple toe and he lands almost on his back
• Nice triple salchow to recover
• Solid double axel into another double axel for the sequence
• Lots of difficulty in these steps but not much ice coverage of speed
• Really close to the boards on this final spin...he looked like he was going to hit it on a few of the position changes

Place	Start No.	Name	Short Program		Free Skate		Total Score
			Place	Score	Place	Score
1	7	Vincent Zhou, Peninsula SC	1	52.45	1	112.51	164.96
2	11	James Schetelich, SC of NY	4	46.45	2	93.32	139.77
3	12	Spencer Howe, Los Angeles FSC	5	46.06	3	88.16	134.22
4	10	Kevin Shum, St. Moritz ISC	2	50.85	7	81.83	132.68
5	8	Jimmy Ma, SC of NY	6	43.88	4	85.41	129.29
6	5	Brian Krentz, Skokie Valley SC	7	42.06	6	81.99	124.05
7	9	Nicholas Vrdoljak, DuPage FSC	3	46.60	8	77.22	123.82
8	4	Chase Belmontes, Broadmoor SC	10	40.24	5	82.86	123.10
9	6	Kyle Shropshire, Wagon Wheel FSC	11	39.12	9	77.04	116.16
10	1	Tony Lu, SC of Wilmington	9	41.07	10	73.03	114.10
11	3	Oleksiy Melnyk, WA FSC	8	41.97	11	71.93	113.90
12	2	Wilbur Ji, SC of San Francisco	12	38.24	12	70.20	108.44

U.S. Nationals: Novice Men's Short Program Results

Place	Start No.	Name	Score
1	6	Vincent Zhou, Peninsula SC	52.45
2	12	Kevin Shum, St. Moritz ISC	50.85
3	11	Nicholas Vrdoljak, DuPage FSC	46.60
4	4	James Schetelich, SC of NY	46.45
5	9	Spencer Howe, Los Angeles FSC	46.06
6	8	Jimmy Ma, SC of NY	43.88
7	1	Brian Krentz, Skokie Valley SC	42.06
8	3	Oleksiy Melnyk, WA FSC	41.97
9	5	Tony Lu, SC of Wilmington	41.07
10	7	Chase Belmontes, Broadmoor SC	40.24
11	2	Kyle Shropshire, Wagon Wheel FSC	39.12
12	10	Wilbur Ji, SC of San Francisco	38.24