News
April 22, 2009
Castelli and Shnapir are bronze at Junior Worlds
SCOB sends five bright stars to Bulgaria to skate on the world stage
By any standard, pairs skaters Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir have had a great year. It would have been enough to rattle the dominant Russian pairs teams in two Junior Grand Prix events-Ostrava and Sheffield. It was an honor to be the only American pairs team to ascend to the Junior Grand Prix Final. It was thrilling to claim a podium spot at US Nationals in their first (and only, as it turns out) appearance there as a Junior team.
So when Castelli and Shnapir were named to the Junior World team they took the opportunity in stride.
"It was a very long season for us," admits Castelli. "But coming off Nationals we felt like we were very well-trained for Junior Worlds."
"We went to Bulgaria thinking that we'd be satisfied finishing in the top eight," Shnapir says. "Top six," corrects Castelli.
Such is the relationship that has developed between this pair that is separated by more than just a sixteen inch height difference. "We work hard on our skating but also on our relationship as partners," say Shnapir. "Too many teams don't have the ability to stick it out. We work the problems, learning how to communicate and how to compete. In the end, we know we are only going to succeed together."
It was this positive attitude that gave Castelli and Shnapir the ability to keep improving even after a particularly competitive National championship event. In addition to their longtime coaches, Bobby Martin and Carrie Wall, and choreographer Sheryl Franks, the pair enlisted the help of former US Champion and friend Brooke Castile to help them hone the focus needed for international competition.
"Brooke helped us fine-tune our mental focus," said Castelli. "She helped us separate out the things that are ours to control. It's about us and the ice."
"Each day we worked on skating smarter, making everything count like in competition. Brooke would always show us where we were losing points in practice. This helped us focus on quality in every move we made. In the end," Castelli shrugged, "you perform the way you practice."
So with all this preparation, were the pair surprised to find themselves in second place after the short program - after a nearly flawless program and a season's best score of 49.10? "We were completely shocked," Shnapir admits.
"In that position, it's hard not to allow yourself to think that you might actually have a shot," Shnapir says. "However, we kept reminding ourselves that the results are not in our control - only the skating is."
In the free skate, things just got better. "I think it was our best performance ever," Shnapir says. "I give a lot of credit to Marissa for landing the throw-triple-Salchow at the end of the program." With a score of 88.37 for the performance, the team earned 137.47 overall, enough for a bronze medal but just over a point out of second place.
"I hope we'll hold onto this feeling for awhile," said Shnapir.
And what about next year? Castelli and Shnapir have already passed their senior tests and plan to compete with the other senior teams next season. "Because it's an Olympic year there will be a lot competition in the pairs field," said Shnapir. "We'll just be doing what we do every day. Working on our skills. Trying to be better than the day before."
Men's and Ladies'
In addition to the pairs, SCOB had an unprecedented three solo skaters named to the Junior World Team. Curran Oi, who finished sixth at the US National Championships in Senior Men's, Katrina Hacker, who finished sixth in Senior Ladies', and Ross Miner, who is Junior Men's Champion.
In the men's event, Curran Oi delivered a near-perfect short program for a score of 69.40. His technical score was the highest in the event and he was just 0.15 behind second place at the end of the round, earning him a bronze at the "small medal" ceremony. In the freeskate, Oi was seventh, with a total score of 113.49, finishing in fifth place overall with a total score of 182.89, a personal best.
"Being chosen for Junior Worlds was an important goal for me," said Oi. "I was very pleased to be here and to deliver two strong performances."
Ross Miner, who has yet to compete in a Junior Grand Prix event, was a virtual unknown on the international stage. "I had no expectations," he said, "just a desire to skate well and prove that I'm ready for international assignments." Miner finished ninth in the short program with a score of 59.15 and ninth in the freeskate with a score of 105.65. His combined score of 164.80 placed him in tenth overall.
In the ladies event, Katrina Hacker demonstrated her usual beauty and consistency on the ice, earning 51.06 and fifth place for her short program. In the freeskate, her 88.62 was fourth place, giving her a combined event score of 139.68 for a fifth place finish overall.
