2012 US Figure Skating Championships: Final results of senior division

Here are the results from the senior men's, ladies, pairs and ice dancing competition at the 2012 Prudential US Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California. In pairs, the new team of Caydee Denney and John Coughlin won gold, followed by the other new team of Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker. Crowd favorite and Olympians Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig won the bronze. In dance, it was a repeat of the top two finishes from last year with Meryl Davis and Charlie White winning gold and Maia and Alex Shibutani winning silver. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won bronze. For the ladies, Ashley Wagner (FINALLY!) won her US title, followed by Alissa Czisny and Agnes Zawadzki. Olympians Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu finished sixth and seventh, respectively. For the men, my favorite Jeremy Abbott won gold, Adam Rippon the silver, and Ross Miner won the bronze. Next up...the World Championships in Nice, France from March 26 - April 1.

Top 10 results for senior pairs:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Caydee Denney, Broadmoor SC/John Coughlin, KS City FSC	3	1	189.70
2	Mary Beth Marley, DuPage FSC/Rockne Brubaker, All Year FSC	1	2	186.07
3	Amanda Evora, Southwest FL FSC/Mark Ladwig, Red River Valley FSC	2	3	178.98
4	Gretchen Donlan, SC Of Boston/Andrew Speroff, SC Of Boston	5	4	171.61
5	Marissa Castelli, SC Of Boston/Simon Shnapir, SC Of Boston	4	7	168.81
6	Ashley Cain, Stars FSC of TX/Joshua Reagan, Stars FSC of TX	7	5	166.65
7	Andrea Poapst, Broadmoor SC/Christopher Knierim, Broadmoor SC	6	6	166.38
8	Felicia Zhang, SC of NY/Nathan Bartholomay, University of DE FSC	9	8	156.57
9	Tiffany Vise, Broadmoor SC/Don Baldwin, Los Angeles FSC	10	9	140.97
10	Alexa Scimeca, DuPage FSC/Ivan Dimitrov, Individual Member	8	11	132.62

Top 10 results for senior dance:

Rank	Name	SD	FD	Points
1	Meryl Davis, Arctic FSC / Charlie White, Detroit SC	1	1	191.54
2	Maia Shibutani, SC of New York / Alex Shibutani, Arctic FSC	2	2	178.84
3	Madison Hubbell, Detroit SC / Zachary Donohue, Detroit SC	3	3	151.60
4	Lynn Kriengkrairut, All Year FSC / Logan Giulietti-Schmitt, Ann Arbor FSC	4	4	148.55
5	Madison Chock, All Year FSC / Evan Bates, Ann Arbor FSC	5	5	145.08
6	Anastasia Cannuscio, University of DE FSC / Colin McManus, SC Of Boston	6	7	137.37
7	Anastasia Olson, Detroit SC / Jordan Cowan, All Year FSC	7	6	137.08
8	Emily Samuelson, Ann Arbor FSC / Todd Gilles, All Year FSC	8	8	135.99
9	Isabella Cannuscio, University of DE FSC / Ian Lorello, University of DE FSC	10	9	130.35
10	Charlotte Lichtman, Arctic FSC / Dean Copely, All Year FSC	9	10	129.22

Top 10 results for senior ladies:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Ashley Wagner, SC of Wilmington	3	1	187.02
2	Alissa Czisny, Detroit SC	2	2	180.00
3	Agnes Zawadzki, Broadmoor SC	1	7	174.10
4	Caroline Zhang, All Year FSC	4	3	173.19
5	Christina Gao, Northern Kentucky SC	6	5	166.36
6	Rachael Flatt, Broadmoor SC	9	4	164.98
7	Mirai Nagasu, Pasadena FSC	5	8	163.99
8	Angela Wang, Salt Lake Figure Skating	16	6	158.66
9	Vanessa Lam, All Year FSC	7	9	157.62
10	Kiri Baga, FSC of Bloomington	14	10	149.38

Top 10 results for senior men:

Rank	Name	SP	FS	Points
1	Jeremy Abbott, Detroit SC	1	1	273.58
2	Adam Rippon, SC of NY	2	2	240.87
3	Ross Miner, SC of Boston	4	3	230.32
4	Armin Mahbanoozadeh, WA FSC	3	6	224.63
5	Douglas Razzano, Coyotes SC of AZ	8	4	223.38
6	Stephen Carriere, SC Of Boston	9	7	213.41
7	Keegan Messing, AK Assoc of Figure Skaters	5	12	212.47
8	Max Aaron, Broadmoor SC	6	13	211.15
9	Jason Brown, Skokie Valley SC	7	14	209.16
10	Scott Dyer, All Year FSC	13	9	207.97

Complete results for the novice and junior divisions can be found here.

Johnny Weir to skip 2011-2012 season

• Johnny Weir announces he will skip 2011-2012 competitive season to focus on professional career. [Johnny Weir Official Site]

• Johnny Weir: I love a woman in a heel, and a gentleman in a heel. [Daily Caller]

• Japan to host 2014 World Figure Skating Championships. [USA Today]

• Rachael Flatt fined by US Figure Skating for not reporting injury prior to World Championships. [Chicago Tribune]

• Michelle Kwan: role model for the ages. [Chicago Tribune]

• International Skating Union (ISU) allows Evgeny Plushenko to compete again in ISU sanctioned competitions including the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. [ISU]

• Adam Rippon (at right) leaves Ghislain Briand in Toronto to train with Jason Dungjen at the Detroit Skating Club. [US Figure Skating]

• Ryan Bradley, Amanda Evora, Mark Ladwig, Jason Brown, Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukov and others to perform in Lake Placid. [Lake Placid Skater]

• Guess who's in Skating Magazine!?! [Manleywoman Skatecast]

• Ashley Wagner leaves Priscilla Hill in Delaware to train with John Nicks in California. [icenetwork]

• Canada's national figure skating team members Shawn Sawyer, Joey Russell, Adam Johnson and Diane Szmiett announce retirement from amateur skating. [montrealgazette]

Adam Rippon leaves Brian Orser to train with Ghislain Briand (video)

First Yu-Na Kim and now Adam Rippon!?! Last week, Adam, a two-time World junior champion and Japan Open winner, announced that he was leaving coach Brian Orser whom he had been with for over two years. Brian Orser coached Yu-Na to her Olympic gold medal in Vancouver and then they abruptly parted ways six months later (no reasons given, lots of innuendos on who did what to whom). Hopes were high that Brian would work his magic on Adam, who is a top US men's competitor. What happened? Adam decided that they were not "on the same page" and that a change was in order. Enter new coach Ghislain Briand, who is already on Adam's coaching team, so Ghislain will now be taking on a permanent full-time role as Adam's coach at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club. Brian coaches at the club as well so will this be awkward? According to Adam, no, of course not.

Adam and I spoke about all of this in NYC on April 4 when he attended a benefit for Figure Skating in Harlem. This is a program that provides young girls in the Harlem community with free ice skating lessons as well as academic tutoring. Adam said he appreciates programs that provide great after-school activities as he and his five siblings have all benefited from participating in constructive extracurricular activities growing up in Scranton. Adam also reflected on the past season, including the highs (winning the Japan Open) and lows (his short program at US Nationals where he placed fifth overall).(Photo at right, Adam on the red carpet at Figure Skating in Harlem benefit)

Coming up next...my conversation with Jeremy Abbott and the curse of the boot problems that torpedoed his season.

Adam Rippon, Jeremy Abbott, Tanith Belbin and Sarah Hughes on rescheduling 2011 Worlds (video)

On Monday, I caught up with Adam Rippon, Jeremy Abbott, Tanith Belbin and Sarah Hughes in NYC to ask them what they thought about moving Worlds from Japan to Russia. The skaters were attending a benefit for Figure Skating in Harlem, an organization that combines academics with ice skating lessons for young girls in the Harlem community. More interviews to come with Adam, Jeremy, Sarah, as well as Joannie Rochette, Fumie Suguri, Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek! (Photo below, left to right, Jeremy Abbott, Fumie Suguri and Adam Rippon)

Sarah Hughes, Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek at Figure Skating in Harlem benefit

What an amazing evening last night at Wollman Rink in Central Park, NYC! Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH), a not-for-profit program that combines academics with ice skating for girls in the Harlem community, held their annual fundraiser benefit called Skating with the Stars. The honorees this year were 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes and Terry and Tina Lundgren. Terry is the CEO is Macy's and Tina is on the advisory board of FSH as well as a world skating judge. All three are long-time supporters of FSH and have helped FSH founder Sharon Cohen and her staff raise lots of money for the girls.

On hand to lend their support to this worthy organization -- Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek, Sasha Cohen, Todd Eldredge, Joannie Rochette, Adam Rippon, Fumie Suguri, Jeremy Abbott, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, Timothy Goebel, Emily Hughes, Nastia Liukin, Lucinda Ruh, Vera Wang, Kenneth Cole, Ramona Singer (from Real Housewives of NYC), fashion designer Chris Benz, Donald and Melania Trump, and the list goes on. Interviews with skaters coming up! (Photo above, honoree Sarah Hughes with FSH girls, photo below, Johnny Weir)