Orscher and Lucash Take the Lead in Senior Pairs Short
by Michelle Wojdyla
 (St. Louis, Mo. 1/12/06) - A large roster, 18 teams in total, took the ice for their pairs short program at the 2006 State Farm U.S. Championships Wednesday night. Two berths are available for the Torino Olympic Winter Games next month. Reigning champions Katie Orscher and Garrett Lucash (Charter Oak FSC) were first with 60.65 points. Marcy Hinzmann (Winterhurst FSC) and Aaron Parchem (DetroitSC) are second (57.41) and new team Naomi Nari Nam (All Year FSC) and Themistocles Leftheris (Los Angeles FSC) are third (56.63). 2003 champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin (All Year FSC) had two major errors and are fourth (55.48).
Orscher and Lucash are coming off a disappointing autumn following Orscher’s broken left foot in July. They were forced out of Smart Ones Skate America and finished sixth at Cup of China. Tonight they showed no signs of the injury in their “Egyptian Disco” program, hitting all of their elements except for the side-by-side spins, which were off unison. They scored 31.51 for their technical score, receiving multiple +2s on their double twist, throw triple flip, and overhead lift.
“I think Katie and I really skated well together tonight,” Lucash said. “Of course, every time you skate out there you are together, but you are not always on the same plan. I think our minds were in the same place tonight. I felt very comfortable on the ice with her. I thought Katie was awesome.”
“I enjoyed skating today,” Orscher said. “I had a lot of fun. Our performance out there was really good. Overall, we are really happy with how we skated.”
The duo isn’t thinking ahead to Torino yet.
“We have our title from last year, and we will always have that,” Orscher said. “Our minds right now are focused on this week.”
Hinzmann and Parchem skated to Yo-Yo Ma’s “The Mission.” They received a majority of positive GOEs with the exception of the side-by-side triple toes, where Hinzmann fell, cutting her hand. Their lift received a level 4, the straight-line footwork a 2, and the remaining elements level 3.
“It feels good,” Parchem said. “I am glad it is over with. The short is always a little nerve-wracking. In the long you can let it all hang out and just go for all of the points. You have eight elements to do in the short, and if you miss one or two, you are in trouble.”
“We are really excited with our performance tonight,” Hinzmann added. “We just wanted to skate for the crowd, and put together as nice of a program as we could. I am really thrilled with everything and I couldn’t be happier with the placement and being in the final group again.”
The duo was pleased with their position going into Friday’s free skate.
“It is a great feeling,” Parchem said. “Even though she fell down, we skated well tonight and that is what makes us feel good. We have another shot at it in the long, but overall I am really happy with what we did tonight.”
One of the surprises of the night was the third place finish of Nam and Leftheris. Nam last competed at the U.S. Championships in 2000 as a singles skater and won the silver in 1999 behind Michelle Kwan. She only recently turned to pairs nine months ago, and the team made their first national championship appearance together this week in St. Louis. Skating to music from “Xena, Warrior Princess” choreographed by 1998 Olympic pairs champion Oksana Kazakova, Nam and Leftheris opened the competition with a strong program that showed a lot of attack in the choreography. They received a negative GOE on their final three elements (the lift, pair combination spin, and circular footwork sequence).
“It felt so good to be back out there,” Nam said. “I missed it.”
“We were definitely proud of our performance,” Leftheris added.
“We worked really, really hard in the eight or nine months that we had,” Nam said. “We definitely pulled it together tonight and did the same thing that we do in practice.”
Nam
said she had “unfinished business” that brought her back on the ice.
“I have a strong love for figure skating,” she said. “That is what brought me back. I took a lot of time off and did the normal teenage girl stuff and I missed it.”
Her transition from singles to pairs was a challenge.
“It was a long--but short--nine months,” Nam said. “I knew we had our work cut out for us. I didn’t want to come back into figure skating as a junior skater. I wanted to compete as a pairs skater and be good enough to be one of the top. At first I thought it was going to be easier, but I can tell you now, it is not. I have muscles that I never thought I had before. In singles you learn your jumps and choreography. Here you have to be strong for the other person. The other person has to be strong for you too. So, you have someone else to think about, too -- mentally, physically – everything.”
“I think that is what is so remarkable about pairs, is that there is someone out there with you feeling the same experience – the same moment,” Leftheris said. “You can look over and you don’t even have to say anything. You can read each other’s minds.”
Inoue and Baldwin had a rough night. Skating second, Baldwin botched the side-by-side triple toe, underrotating it and falling on the landing. The element notched only .53 out of the planned 4.0 base points.
“I wasn’t close to going down, I just lost my confidence,” Baldwin said. “It was the perfect jump all of the way through and I just pulled out of it.”
Inoue and Baldwin have been trying side-by-side triple Lutzes for the past few seasons, so it was odd to find the pair lowering their planned degree of difficulty.
“I have to do a triple toe, because I have a hematoma in my right toe,” Baldwin explained. “I haven’t been able to jump off of it for two weeks. So we switched to triple toe, which is an easy triple for us. But, not for me tonight, I guess.”
“It is always disappointing if you can’t skate the way you have been training at home,” Inoue said, “but, at the same time, that is why it is called competition. Something different can always happen. You don’t plan to do that, but you cannot go back to the past, so all we can do is move forward. It is all a matter of how we can switch our minds and get ready for the next event.”
While the fall on the jump was damaging enough, Inoue and Baldwin knocked themselves out of the top three when Inoue fell on the landing of the throw triple loop, sliding towards the boards and losing time in returning to the Albinoni’s “Adagio” choreography.
“Everything was good, but I overrotated on the triple loop,” Inoue said. “I tried to stay, but I slipped off my blade and I fell, so that is an automatic one point deduction. I am looking forward to see how we can perform on Friday.”
Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent (BroadmoorSC) are in fifth, and 2003 U.S. champion Tiffany Scott (Colonial FSC) and her new partner Rusty Fein (Washington FSC) are in sixth after a freak fall at the end of their footwork sequence.
“We have the highest expectations for ourselves,” Fein said. “We both decided that we really wanted to focus on the program performance aspect. We are pleased with our performance but not so much with the fall.”
“It felt good,” Scott, a 2002 Olympian, said. “I think we are in a good place. For me, I feel like our long is our strength, so makes me feel good going into the long.”
The pairs competition concludes Friday.
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