Recap
USA: Midwest and Pacific Coast Sectionals
The Midwest occupies the northern central part of the United States.
The U.S. Midwestern and Pacific coast Sectionals were held this past weekend in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This competition is held in order to determine who is being sent to the U.S National Championships, being held this year in Plymouth, Michigan.
Friday started the Junior division in the Wings Event Center. This division had 3 entered teams due to other midwest junior teams having international byes to train or travel for their international competition. St. Louis Synergy, Wisconsin Edge, and the Northernettes were all in for a fierce fight and all wanted the Midwestern title. Wisconsin Edge skated an energetic short and earned a 36.48. St Louis Synergy earned a 52.20 and were sitting in second by the end of the night after the Northernettes danced with their danse French program and 53.22 score.
The freeskate followed the next day and it was still a fight for the Midwestern title. First and second were separated by 1.02 points and both teams had good showings all season with their long. Wisconsin Edge skated strong and earned a 88.38 overall. St Louis Synergy brought a fierce Cleopatra inspired skate which gave them a 125.79 and the silver medal. While Northernettes skated a clean and intense Hunger Games themed freeskate and earned the gold and a 135.61.
The Novice Division is a fun and intense division to watch, and there were only 6 spots for the National Championships this year.
Hockettes (50.71) and St Louis Synergy(53.30) earned 6th and 5th place and a trip to Plymouth in three weeks. Starlights earned the pewter medal with a 60.73. Crystallettes claimed the bronze with a 61.82. Dazzlers took silver with a 66.67, and Teams Elite grabbed gold with a 68.66. This division 4th and 1st was separated by 8 points and it is exciting to see these teams hit their peaks at the Championships and where they land with the teams from the East coast.
The Collegiate Division is fun and competitive division for skaters who want to continue in college. This division pushes the bar every year and the athletes just keep improving. All teams advance to Nationals in this division, but every team still gives it their best for the titles.
Michigan State earned the pewter medal with a 74.65. This team has previously and continuously has placed at the National Championships for the past few years. Adrian College claimed the bronze medal with their tango program. They earned a 79.02. Western Michigan University (82.85) took the silver with a season’s best and amazing skate. And Miami University of Ohio reclaimed their gold from a year hiatus with 87.73. The University of Illinois and the University of Notre Dame also skated well.
All Midwest Senior teams have a bye this season as they all have internationals.
The Pacific Coast division is a very small division, with most teams coming from California. Recently there has not been any teams in the junior division. California Gold from the senior division had a bye to qualify them for Nationals. Matrix from Anaheim California is the only novice team and earned a 44.82.
All teams enter now into their National Championships. The competition is in less than a month.