National field set for trip to Spokane

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash. – Danielle Kahle, Erin Reed, Michael Villarreal, Daisuke Murakami.

Never heard of them, even though your interest in figure skating piques more than every fourth winter?

They’re the top two finishers in the senior ladies’ and men’s events, respectively, at the Pacific Coast Sectional Championship. They’re also part of a large group heading for Spokane, in hopes of making a name for themselves at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jan. 21-28.

The national field was decided here Saturday and at sectionals in Pelham, Ala., and Alpharetta, Ga. The top four novice, junior and senior skaters in men’s, ladies’, dance and pairs qualified for the biggest skating event to be held in Spokane. The field of 253 skaters will include 53 skaters who received byes – all with top-five finishes at the 2006 nationals or international experience.

On the local scene, despite skating a clean and inspired program, Kalie Budvarson and Chris Anders from Coeur d’Alene finished fifth in senior pairs. Their division had five couples, with first through fifth scores separated by less than 11 points.

“That was the best program we ever skated in our entire life,” said Budvarson, who has been paired with Anders for four years. “I was ready. I knew we could do everything in our program perfect, and we did.”

The pair, representing the Inland Northwest Figure Skating Club, plan to take some time off before continuing with skating.

The four senior pairs who advanced to nationals are from California, aside from one skater who represents the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, Colo.

California, more specifically the All Year Figure Skating Club, had the top four finishers in senior men, although no one skated clean free-skate programs. Only five men were in the competition as two withdrew. The ladies’ field had 13 skaters.

Villarreal finished first with 172.35 points, while Nicholas LaRoche dropped from first to fourth with 153.44.

Murakami, who lives in Los Angeles, is the youngest of the group at 15 and will be a first-time competitor at the senior level at nationals. How does he plan to make Spokane remember him and distinguish himself from the other performers?

“I’m good at smiling,” he said, naturally with a smile.

And he’s not bad at jumping.

Although he “played it safe” with triples at sectionals, Murakami said he’ll be working on putting a quadruple jump Salchow in his program.

Villarreal, 20, who finished 10th in the senior division at last year’s nationals in St. Louis, has a new take on his tactic.

“With the new judging system, it’s not so much about the quad,” he said. “It’s more about performing. You can do all the jumps you want, but the way it’s judged … the top guys have great performances.”

Kahle, also from All Year, had four triple jumps in her clean program and finished with 150.24 points. Coached by Michelle Kwan’s former coach Frank Carroll, Kahle will return to nationals in hopes of improving on last year’s 12th-place finish. In 2002, she was the novice national champion.

Organizers of the Pacific Coast Sectional reported the attendance exceeded their expectations as they ran out of all-events passes and had to print more. Single-session tickets also sold out Saturday night.