New Partnerships Pay Off in Novice Pairs Short Program
by Daphne Backman
 (St. Charles, Mo., 1/8/05) - The novice pairs event at the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships got underway with the top two finishers in the short program each being together only eight months - which could be the reason the common element problem was unison on the side-by-side spins.
Jessica Rose Paetsch (pronounced “Paych”) and Jon Nuss (Broadmoor Skating Club) took the lead skating to “King Herod’s Song” and scoring 44.43. Their death spiral, pairs spin and double twist were graded level three, with the death spiral receiving +2 GOE and the twist, +1 GOE.
Paetsch and Nuss (pictured) are coached by Dalilah Sappenfield and teamed up eight months ago. Rockne Brubaker, the 2005 U.S. junior pairs champion, works with the team and was present in the mixed zone during the post-short program question and answer session.
“She (Sappenfield) is really excited, and she feels like they did a really good job, especially for this being their first nationals,” Brubaker said.
Sappenfield coaches several other pairs who are competing at the event, so she left Family Arena after the conclusion of the novice short.
Though Paetsch is new to pairs, Nuss competed with his sister several years ago. Without a partner last season, Nuss skated singles at the novice level. After teaming with Paetsch, he now focuses solely on the pairs discipline.
The team will do nothing different heading into the free skate.
“They’ve competed their long program pretty well all season,” Brubaker said. “They are comfortable with it, and they’re ready to go.”
In second place, Andrea Best and Trevor Young (Detroit Skating Club) skated a bluesy short program to “Pink Panther.” Their score of 44.25 puts them just .18 behind the leaders. They received level 3s on their double twist, pairs spin and side-by-side spins, though like Paetsch and Nuss, they lost lost unison on the spins.
To develop unison in pairs skating takes time.
“We didn’t start out having [good unison],” Best said. “It took a lot of work.”
Neither is new to the U.S. Championships scene. Young competed at the 2005 U.S. Championships with his previous partner, while Best competed at the U.S. Junior Championships with her brother several years ago.
Meg Byrne and Nathan Bartholomay (University of Delaware FSC), who skated to Edvin Marton’s “Art on Ice,” are in third place with 42.59. Byrne and Bartholomay received level 3s on their circular footwork and double twist.
Byrne and Bartholomay are veterans compared to many of the other teams competing in this event. Having won the U.S. juvenile and intermediate pairs titles in 2004 and 2005, respectively, Byrne and Bartholomay are no strangers to being in the hunt for the top spot.
“It (winning at juvenile and intermediate) helped us a little bit in confidence, but from junior nationals to this it’s a huge step, and it’s kind of another ballgame,” Byrne said. “You kind of go into it like, ‘we won last year,’ but you can’t always expect to win this year because it’s all new.”
The youngest team at the championships, Tracy Tanovich, 9, and Michael Chau, 15 (Southwest Florida FSC), are in fourth place and skated a spirited performance to music from the “Kill Bill” soundtrack. Tanovich and Chau finished ninth at the 2005 U.S. Junior Championships at the juvenile level. They scored 40.19 in the short program.
The event concludes with the free skate tomorrow at 1:20 p.m.
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