Skaters who never made it
Patti_Flaniga...@dca.com
Lorilee Pritchard (fabulous spinner)
Craig Heath (what pizazz and musicality)
I think Louis Epstein was referring to Katherine Adams when he
mentioned the skater who won Novice and Junior and was 4th or 5th in
Senior. I saw her at the 1987 Sports Festival and she had totally lost
her ability to jump. It was really weird--sort of like Lisa Ervin,
only worse.
Mary Hiser
beholder, and for every well-known "didn't make it" there are thousands of
skaters who would have traded places with them. Every year, particularly
in ladies, there are skaters who never make it out of regionals or
sectionals - a last place finish at nationals would be a dream of Olympic
proportions come true.
There are plenty of people out there moaning that they never made it who
achieved their gold test in freestyle, figures, dance, or pairs who should
be celebrating this accomplishment.
Yes, you have to aim/dream high, but what is the point if you don't also
allow yourself to celebrate the successes along the way? If you wait for
the "big success" and it doesn't happen, then what?
Yes, the first name that came to my mind was Jeri Campbell. Hmmm,
national junior champion, pewter medal/4th place at 1988 senior nationals
(first year in seniors!) now starring in a title role in an ice show....
so, she never made a senior world or Olympic team -- she competed
internationally and had some pretty spectacular results!
(turn off soapbox, resume working)
--
Mary Hiser can also be reached at sk8...@aol.com
Andrew Starr
: Jill Frost (I'll second Louis Epstein on this!)
You are seconding me, not Louis Epstein, but yes, I was thinking of Katherine
Adams.
I believe Lorilee Pritchard was injured and had trouble making it back.
She was in Lake Placid summer of 1985 and had a great exhibition program!
Louis Epstein
Andrew,your previous post,and Patti's, never reached my site!!
(The newsreader there has insufficient memory and its queue gets
flushed...I expect my own with three times the RAM and three times the
storage to be delivered today or tomorrow,and will get it running soon!).
I didn't mention Jill Frost(who?) OR Katherine Adams...I talked about
Lisa Ervin,Michelle Cho,and expressed worries about Jenna Pittman.
If we broaden the net to patch skaters,it may be time to add the beautiful
and elegant Karlene Marie Machovec,Atlanta FSC.In 1994 she won Junior
Ladies at Easterns and tied for silver in Nationals,but has not competed
at 1995 or 1996 South Atlantics.
John Lincoln/DCOM
tripl...@pchbbs.com wrote:
And Tracey Damigella...sad that her growth spurt may have made doing the
triples very difficult and had to switch from singles to pairs only to produce
a 10th place finish in the Seniors with Doug Williams (I believe...1993).
Speaking of which for pairs...Sharon Carz/Doug Williams..one time bronze
medalist and one time World team members. Dance...Renee Roca/___ Yorke;
Suzanne Semenick/Ron Kravette, ___/Michael Verlich; back to pairs...Katy Keeley
and Joseph Mero ( a shame they got frustrated and quit...they had
potential...the Seybold fiasco in 1989, I believe, was the straw that broke the
camel's back), Katie Wood/Joel McKeever, Tristin Vega/Richard Alexander, Jill
Watson/Burt Lancon....
I'm sure all of us on the net could contribute a lot of different
names to the list of outstanding skaters who have "really never made
it". Just off the top of my head, I can add:
Prill (Priscilla Hill)
Barbie Smith
Tom Zink
Tina Noyes
Jill Frost
Tim Brown
Wendy Burge
etc...
The writer mentions Jill Watson & Burt Lancon. They skated in the
1984 Olympics at Sarajevo and got completely slammed by the judges
for being "unknown" - remember Oksana Baiul at Prague anyone? So
much for being unknown; even allowing for the fact that she was the
only skater who stayed on her feet. Kitty & Peter and Watson & Lancon
were the only pairs that were not completely blah or a disaster area at
Sarajevo; it was almost as bad as Lake Placid in 1980. Certainly
Valova & Vassilev skated "perfectly" at Sarajevo but both programs
were blah; there was some real fire and interest with the two American
pairs. Fortunately, Kitty & Peter were rewarded for it. Does anyone
happen to remember that Kitty & Peter were the first Americans to
medal at Sarajevo in any sport?
-jl
Fred Goss
1. The wildly differing definitions of "never made it". I was thinking
"never got to the medal platform at Nationals" (realizing I wasn't thinking
of the "pewter medal" for 4th) but I've seen national medal winners, world
and Olympic competitors mentioned. Unless someone adds Chris Bowman, I think
Renee' Roca, who afterall is the 3-time national champion, is the highest
rated skater mentioned as "never making it."
2. On the other hand, it's nice to see that almost everyone who has skated
at nationals and gotten into the top 10 2 or 3 times is well-remembered by
someone on the group. Examples include Jimmy Cygan whose skating I always
liked but hadn't thought about in years. I understand he went on to med school.
Fred Goss, publisher
Fred Goss' WHAT'S WORKING
fg...@ucg.com
301-816-8950 ext. 266
Alexei Akiba
>
>The writer mentions Jill Watson & Burt Lancon. They skated in the
>1984 Olympics at Sarajevo and got completely slammed by the judges
>for being "unknown"
The reasons why they didn't place better than they did included (if I
remember correctly): 1- They had no side-by-side jump like the
Russians/Canadians did; 2- their basic skating skills (i.e., forward &
backward stroking) were not very strong; 3- lack of speed.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but hadn't they been around for quite sometime
before the Olympics? In particular, I seem to remember Burt Lancon from
the mid 70's w/ another partner, Maria DiDomenico (but, then, I was like
3 years old...).
> Kitty & Peter and Watson & Lancon
>were the only pairs that were not completely blah or a disaster area at
>Sarajevo; it was almost as bad as Lake Placid in 1980. Certainly
>Valova & Vassilev skated "perfectly" at Sarajevo but both programs
>were blah.
You certainly have high standards! In 84, I thought many pairs were
actually SENSATIONAL -- like Selezneva & Makarov, Matousek & Eisler (yes,
THAT Lloyed Eisler), Avstriskaya & Kvashnin etc. (not to mention Valova
& Vassiliev) were breathtaking.
Re: Lake Placid in '80... I seem to remember a CLEAN performance by EACH
of the top 5 pairs. My personal favorite was Pestova & Leonovich who
finished 4th. Leonovich coached Gordeeva & Grinkov, I might add.
--
Amy Ashton
>Does anyone happen to remember that Kitty
>& Peter were the first Americans to
>medal at Sarajevo in any sport?
Well, not to belittle their accomplishment, but isn't
pairs one of the first events? I remember in Lillehammer,
the pairs didn't march in the opening ceremonies
because they had to compete the next day. So while
Kitty and Peter are certainly to be commended, it wasn't
that big a deal that they were the first -- now the fact
that they won a medal is definitely a big deal!
Amy
--
"_Home Alone 3: The Quickening_." -Mike
Eagles may soar, free and proud,
but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.