The juvenile competition at the
2019 GEICO U.S. Figure Skating Championships came to a close on Sunday morning at Detroit Skating Club, finishing with the free dance.
Kiana Pan (Northern Ice SC) and Ilya Mondrowski (Skokie Valley SC) were crowned U.S. champions with a total of score of 80.03. The 12- and 14-year-old finished third at the Midwestern Sectional Championships and stepped up to the challenge to take gold on the national stage.
The team finished second in both the pattern dance and free dance. In their
Willy Wonka-themed performance, the Chicago-based duo was awarded Level 4 marks for their rotational lift, synchronized twizzles and straight line lift. They scored 43.85 points on their free dance, over three points higher than their sectional score.
"We are really, really, really happy," Pan said, immediately after learning they had won the title. "We didn't expect this at all. We just wanted to get on the podium."
"This is really exciting. Our confidence is at an all-time high and hopefully we can carry this into next season," Mondrowski added.
Hailing from Washington Figure Skating Club, Olivia Ilin and Dylan Cain secured the silver medal with 78.72 total points. The team was in first place after the pattern dance, but stumbled on their twizzles, placing third in their Latin-inspired free dance. The two were the youngest skaters on the podium at nine and 10 years old.
Vanessa Pham (Memorial FSC of Houston) and Jonathan Rogers (Texas Gulf Coast FSC) moved up from fourth place to take home the bronze medal with 78.36 overall points, just .36 points behind the silver medalists. In their rendition of
West Side Story, the couple scored 44.18 points to win the free dance. They were awarded 19.45 points for their program components, the highest in the field.
Earning the pewter medal, Rhiannon Rodriguez Avellan and Rogue Rodriguez Avellan (Austin FSC) scored 74.15 overall. The sibling duo received 39.38 points for their
Addams Family free skate.
