More Ice Dance

Meryl Davis and Charlie White

Michael and Rachel with Davis and White

As I wrote in my previous blog post, the Ice Dance National Championships were this week. Last night, the seniors were on TV so I watched some of them. It was especially neat because I was able to see many people I knew. I saw Michael Bramante and his new partner Isabella Cannuscio do a fantastic free dance. I was also able to see my friends, Danielle and Alex Gamellin, perform and take 9th place overall! Both these couples perform at the senior level and did extremely well considering Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Silver medalists from the 2010 Olympics, still compete. To nobodies surprise, Davis and White took first, followed by Maia and Alex Shibutani.

Lorraine Mcnamara and Quinn Carpenter

Competing on the Junior level were my friends Lorraine Mcnamara and Quinn Carpenter, Elliana Pogrebinsky and Ross Gudis, Whitney Miller and Kyle MacMillan, and Rachel and Michael Parsons. Lorraine and Quinn got third place overall and a small mention in The Washington Post. I don't know how the others did but I'm sure they were great with the fantastic training they get from WISA.

WISA, the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy, is coached by Elena Novak, Alexei Kiliakov, Dmitri Ilin, and Ramil Sarkulov. It is a very unique, yet elite program that isn't like any other in the nation. It starts out training kids from a very young age, around 5. Elena, Alexei, Dmitri, and Ramil are all fantastic coaches and choreographers. They have done extremely well and continue to make great skaters.