MWF Scholarship winners
piling up medals!

December 11, 2007

Mirai Nagasu wins the Junior Grand Prix Gold Medal

Michael Weiss Foundation skater Mirai Nagasu won gold at the International Skating Union's (ISU) Junior Grand Prix (JGP) Final, held Dec. 6-9 in Gdansk, Poland.

In the free skate, performing to “Coppelia”, Nagasu landed a double Axel, a triple Lutz-double toe-double loop combination, a second triple Lutz, a triple loop-double loop and produced spins, earning a level four for both the layback and combination spin.

Nagasu received 102.74 points (52.76 element score/49.98 program component score). Overall she held on to first place with 162.09 points.

Kristine Musademba produced three clean triples to come in fourth at 143.80 points.

MWF Scholarship winners swept the men's podium at the Junior Grand Prix.

Adam Rippon led the sweep. Brandon Mroz took the silver medal and Armin Mahbanoozadeh captured the bronze. Both Rippon and Mahbanoozadeh competed for the first time in the Final while Mroz was the silver medalist last year. It was the first clean sweep of the Men’s podium in the history of the Junior Final.

Rippon’s performance to “Moonlight Sonata” included a triple flip-triple toeloop combination, a triple Lutz, triple loop, double Axel, triple Lutz-double toe-double loop as well as a triple flip and a double Axel-triple Salchow sequence. His spins were graded a level three and four. The 18-year-old collected 134.77 points (71.33 element score/63.44 program component score) and significantly improved his previous personal best of 123.26 points. He accumulated 203.20 points overall.

Mroz opened his program to “The King of the Forest” by Edvin Marton with a triple Axel, but he put down his hand on the ice. The 16-year-old continued with a triple loop, a triple flip-double toe-double loop and three more clean triples. Mroz was awarded a level four for his combination spin and a level three for his other two spins as well as for the circular step sequence. He scored 124.21 points (66.39/57.82) and remained in second place with 187.34 points.

Mahbanoozadeh’s program to pieces from “Spartacus” contained seven clean triple jumps including a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination. He received a level four for the two combination spins and the flying sit spin and a level three for both step sequences. The 16-year-old posted a new personal best of 122.97 points (69.77/53.20) and moved up from fourth to third at 182.04 points.

October 7, 2007

Armin Mahbanoozadeh won bronze at the Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (JGP) Series in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Sept. 17, 2007

All three Gold Medals (by the junior men) in the first three JGP have been MWF scholarship recipients.

Lake Placid - Armin Mahbanoozadeh

Romania - Adam Rippon

Austria - Brandon Mroz

Sept. 1, 2007

Michael Weiss Foundation skaters were the big winners at the Junior Grand Prix event in Lake Placid, N.Y. Armin Mahbanoozadeh won gold in the men's competition, while Mirai Nagasu won gold in the event.

Men's event

Mahbanoozadeh, a 16-year-old from Fairfax, Va., stood on the top spot on the podium, sporting a grin so wide you thought his face might break in two.

The boy with the impossibly long name had just heard the "Star-Spangled Banner" played to celebrate his runaway victory in his first International Skating Union event.

"It was definitely my personal best -- by far -- in both the short and long programs," said Mahbanoozadeh, who performed his four-minute routine to Khatachurian's Spartacus.

"Everything went well except for a bobble on a double Axel. I think I was a little slow on that," Mahbanoozadeh continued. "I was pleased with the triple Lutz to triple toe. That's new for me."

Mahbanoozadeh, who has been taught by Traci Coleman for his entire career, executed seven triple jumps. His first spin, the flying change foot sit, earned a level four and his two other spins were level threes. Both step sequences were level twos.

As U.S. novice champion, Mahbanoozadeh was entered as the third American in the Junior Grand Prix in Lake Placid, but the new boy on the block eclipsed the 14 other competitors from 11 countries. He finished 11.79 points ahead of the silver medalist.

Ladies event

Nagasu's two-minute, 50-second routine in the short program was dazzling.

Set to George Gershwin's classic, carefree "I Got Rhythm," Nagasu began with a textbook triple Lutz-double toe loop combination that was the envy of many of the male competitors in Lake Placid.

She flew around the 1980 Rink Herb Brooks Arena with a panache well beyond her tender years.

Two of her eight required elements -- her spiral sequence and layback spin -- earned level fours. The spirals showed great flexibility and sureness, with no wobbles in the change of edge. Her multi-position layback spin exceeded the minimum required rotations and incorporated several different graceful positions.

"I'm pleased with the marks for my components. I've really worked hard to improve on them," Nagasu said. "But I have to get more consistent with my jumps."

Nagasu beat Caroline Zhang last January to become the U.S. junior champion, only to be eclipsed a short time later by Zhang at the World Junior Championships, which she finished runner-up to her fellow California-based prodigy.

She has decided to skate at the junior level internationally, but she will again challenge Zhang -- and others -- at the U.S. Championships in Saint Paul, Minn.

Other events

Adam Rippon with coach Nikolai Morozov.

Adam stands atop the podium at the JGP series in Romania.

Adam Rippon, competing in the JGP series in Romania Sept 6-9 finished first in both the short and long with a score of 185.94.

Adam has been assigned Sofia Cup in Bulgaria in two weeks.

He now trains with Nikolai Morozov in Hackensak, NJ.

Kristine Musademba won the silver medal at the Junior Grand Prix in Vienna, Austria.

Kristine also won both short and long for Junior Ladies at the Cranberry Open, with a total combined score of 137.15 points.
 
Ellie Kawamura is doing Golden Skate this weekend, and is currently in first place
 after the Junior Ladies Short, with a score of 52.48 points

Mirai Nagasu won Silver at the Junior World Championships after winning the junior ladies Gold Medal at the 2007 State Farm U.S. Championships. At Junior Worlds, Nagasu’s dynamic program to “American Quartet” by Anton Dvorak featured a double Axel, triple Salchow, triple flip, triple toe-double toe-double loop, but she was off-balance on the loop. The 13-year-old also hit a triple Lutz-double toe, triple loop-double loop, a beautiful layback spin (level four) and another triple Lutz. Nagasu scored 106.62 points (59.92/46.70), racking up a total score of 163.84 points to capture the silver medal.

Sherry Barnes -- pulled up to 7th in junior ladies long program-- very respectable!

Armin Mahbanoozadeh - Novice Men's National Champion !!! http://olympics.mostvaluablenetwork.com/general/
a-new-name-for-armin-national-novice-champion

Kristine Musademba - 2nd Novice Ladies, she won the freeskate and vaulted herself from 5th place to finish with the silver medal!

Ellie Kawamura - 5th Novice Ladies

Madison and Keiffer Hubbell - finished 6th at the Junior World Championships after skating away with the Silver Medal in the Junior Dance competition at U.S. Nationals. Congratulations to both of them.

Brandon Mroz -- finished 4th at the Junior World Championships after placing 2nd in the long program. At U.S. Nationals, he was the Silver Medalist in Junior Men. That's a great accomplishment.

Adam Rippon -- finished in 6th place in Juniors.

Richard Dornbush -- came back with a vengeance from 13th to 4th place in the long program! He finished in 8th in that same Junior Men's competition.

After a 6th place finish in the Senior Pairs event at U.S. Nationals, Kendra Moyle and her partner, Andy Seitz, finished 5th at the Junior World Championships. Congratulations.

Way to go everyone!

2007 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS!

This year’s recipients are a combination of former scholarship winners and fresh new faces eager to take on the nation at this year’s National Championships. 

This year, again, there were so many deserving applicants.  It made for a difficult decision.  So much so – that Lisa and I decided to contribute financially ourselves - to award MORE scholarships this year.  This year we have awarded 11 singles skaters, 2 ice dancers, and 1 pair skater scholarships in recognition of their hard work and dedication to be the best they can be.  These scholarships were awarded based on financial need, on – ice results, potential, and off – ice sportsmanship and leadership.

This is a group of kids that have worked very hard to accomplish these accolades.  They have done so with poise, hard work and discipline.  Thank you to Nicolas Castaneda of Morgan Stanley – and all of our supporters of the Foundation who help make it possible for these young talents to go after their dreams.

Congratulations and Good luck to all of the winners at Nationals in Spokane! Go out, have fun and skate hard!

I am proud to announce first - our RETURN scholarship winners –

Ellie Kawamura – 13, from Hacienda Heights, CA - is going into the National Championships as the Novice Regional and Sectional Champion.

Daisuke Murakami – 15, has continued to grow as a rising young star and is skating strong as he makes his senior debut at the National Championships.  Go Dice!

Sherry Barnes – 14, from Orlando, Florida, is poised to show the National judges what she’s made of after winning Regionals and Sectionals as a Junior lady. 

Adam Rippon – 17, from PA, is also the Champ of Regionals and Sectionals - and is taking his experience from last year and is determined to take home a medal in Spokane in junior men. 

Kendra Moyle – 16, from MI, skated hard this year to add the title “Jr. National Pair Champion” to her resume. Kendra will debut (along with partner Andy Seitz) in Senior Pair at Nationals this year.

Madison and Keiffer Hubbell – 15 and 17, have continued to take the skating world by storm, adding the Jr. Grand Prix Final Ice Dance Champions to their growing list of achievements.

And NEW Scholarship winners this year…..

Geoffry Varner – from Newark, DE, is moving up to the Senior ranks after last year winning the Junior National bronze medal.  He has already made his mark on the Senior Grand Prix circuit at Skate Canada and NHK Trophy.

Armin Mahbanoozadeh – this young man is a Michael Weiss Foundation Diamond Award winner, and is from the rink I train at in Reston, VA!  He is coming off a victory at Easterns and ready to skate hard at Nationals for the Novice title.

Richard Dornbush – this 15 year old from Corona, CA is training hard and set to make his debut at Nationals at the Junior level.

Mirai Nagasu – 13, from Arcadia, CA, is coming off her wins at Regionals and Sectionals as a Junior lady.  Saw her working on triple axels….look out Mao Asada !

Brandon Mroz – 15, trains in Colorado Springs, and just won the silver medal at the Jr. Grand Prix Final, and poised to skate for Gold at this year’s Nationals.

Kate Charbonneau - 13 years old, from Savage, MN. She will be skating at the Junior level this year. Congratulations Kate!

Sponsor: NICOLAS CASTANEDA 800-347-5032