Firth 16th After First Day
JSA Student "Felt Good" In Short Program Performance

By Martha Kimball

Taylor Firth performs Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Photo by George S. Rossano

01/23/2009 - CLEVELAND - Talk about suspense.

Jamestown Skating Club competitor Taylor Firth performed third from last in the field of 23 Championship-Division ladies, which was a complete switch from her last Nationals in 2007 when she led off the Short Program event.

The introduction of judges in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena occurred at 7:55 p.m. on Thursday, followed by the entrance of the first flight of skaters. Firth, in the fourth and last warm-up group, didn't take the ice to compete until 11:04- practically the next day.

Theoretically there was no advantage to performing late in the competition, as there would have been under the old 6.0 judging system. However, even now with the mathematically complex New Judging System, there tends to be some drift upward in the marks as events progress, and earlier competitors may be unintentionally disadvantaged.

On the flip side, there is the waiting-around factor and the fatigue due to the lateness of the hour. Firth managed to keep her spirits and energy high, and she felt good when her turn finally came.

She was eager to show the crowd her program to the appropriately named "Prayer for Taylor" by Michael W. Smith.

The 17-year-old explained, "When we were searching for music, the coaches would like something and I wouldn't like it so much. Or I would like something but they wouldn't like it. One day my mom was at a music store. The guy working there brought the CD over. He said, 'This is a new CD. It has some great music on it.' My mom was flipping through, and she heard this song and thought it was beautiful. She turned over [the CD cover] and saw that it was called 'Prayer for Taylor.' And we had been praying about music."

Beyond offering an artistic performance, Firth faced the necessity of completing the eight required elements in a Senior Ladies Short Program for 2008-2009: one double Axel; a triple jump immediately preceded by connecting steps and/or other comparable free-skating movements; a jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump or two triples; a flying spin; a layback or sideways-leaning spin; a spin combination incorporating the three basic positions (sit, camel, upright) and with only one change of foot; a spiral sequence; and a step sequence (straight line, circular or serpentine).

Those items can be arranged in any order, although balance among elements is rewarded. Every element has a theoretical base value but is judged with Grade of Execution marks (GoEs) that may range from -3 to +3.

Elements other than jumps are assigned levels, one to four, that reflect difficulty. (Firth would ultimately receive two coveted level fours.)

If all that weren't enough, every performance is given Program Component marks that reward skating skills, transitions between elements, interpretation and the like.

As the evening progressed, it was clear that it would be one of those fortunate nights when almost everyone skated well. Alissa Czisny, bronze medalist in 2007, set the tone with a delicate yet technically immaculate program to Saint-Saens' The Swan. At event's end, Czisny still topped the leader board, followed by Rachael Flatt and Caroline Zhang.

When it was Firth's turn, she skated out in a seafoam green dress and warmed up during the lengthy interval when the judges appeared to struggle with the marks of the previous competitor. Then she took her opening pose to warm applause.

Intending to open with her combination, triple flip-double toe loop, Firth's timing was off and she fell on the flip, which could have been a bigger problem than she made it. Keeping her head, she turned her planned solo triple Salchow into the required combination and minimized the mathematical damage.

The rest of the program was mostly clear sailing: flying sit spin, spiral sequence, layback spin, straight-line steps, the latter delivered daintily and with expression, then double Axel, camel combination spin, and applause.

"You can't let it show," Firth said of the early mistake. "You have to keep on going."

Even with a minus-1 for the fall itself and a line of minus-3 GoEs for the jump's execution, Firth received 25.88 points for Executed Elements, 21.41 points for Program Components for a 46.29 total for the Short Program segment. That amounted to 16th place going into the Free Skate, when the Short Program total will be added to the next set of marks.

Firth said, "I felt really good out there, really comfortable. It wasn't my ultimate best skate, but I'm in a good place going into the long program."

On Saturday evening, Firth will perform her four-minute free skate first in the second warm-up group, a position she's happy about.

Firth has a lot of people in the stands rooting for her this week. In addition to fellow competitors whom she has met over the years, there are her parents, sisters, grandparents, two aunts, and the tutors who help with her home-schooling. The last time around, in Spokane, logistics kept the support group a lot smaller.

Firth said, "I'm glad that a lot of people could come. It's a big deal for me, for them to be there and see how many people actually (attend the championships) and what it's like."

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Firth 16th After First Day JSA Student "Felt Good" In Short Program Performance

By Martha Kimball

Firth 16th After First Day
JSA Student "Felt Good" In Short Program Performance