Stars and skates

The telephone call was expected. The face that went with it wasn’t.

Tim McKernan and Piper Gilles headed out for the first day of the Junior Dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships after a good-luck call from McKernan’s father in Afghanistan.

When the young McKernan left his hotel room Monday morning it took a moment to realize his dad, Lt. Col. Tim McKernan, was smiling at him.

With some help, Lt. Col. McKernan, a quartermaster stationed at Bagram Airbase, had a photograph e-mailed to Spokane, printed and hung on his son’s door before the competition started.

The photo is of “Lt. Col. Mac” surrounded by six of his soldiers holding a good luck sign.

“I saw it on the door; it took a minute to sink in,” young McKernan said. “It was pretty neat. I was just appreciative. There’s no distance that can keep him from cheering for me.”

Lt. Col. McKernan has already spent two tours in Iraq and will probably return there in July after returning home from Afghanistan in May, according to his wife, Vicky.

It was the timing that hurt more than anything; he was deployed just two weeks ago.

“He’s always been there cheering me on,” his son said. “I think he was (disappointed), but he really didn’t show it.”

Especially since this was the biggest competition yet for his 17-year-old son and Gilles, McKernan’s 15-year-old partner.

“It was hard, it was really hard,” Vicky McKernan said. “He missed Tim and Piper win nationals when they were intermediates. This is the second nationals he has missed out of four.”

She wasn’t surprised at the effort the soldiers put into making the poster and getting it to Spokane.

“It’s one big team, everybody is so supportive,” said Vicky, who’s also in the Army. “You have to. This is a great country we live in, but we’ve got to bond together to protect it.”

Tim tries not to worry about his dad, or at least not let his fears affect his skating.

“There’s always a bit of concern,” he said. “He knows I know what I’m doing; I know he knows what he’s doing.”

“Skate for your dad,” Gilles said of their motto. “You both think it. He’s over there fighting for (us). We’re just so thankful. We’re grateful.”

The pair responded with style, finishing fourth as the competition concluded Wednesday evening at the Arena.

“It went really well,” Gilles said. “It was like the best we’ve ever done. We weren’t expecting to get fourth, we were expecting to get like sixth or seventh. It was awesome.”

They were only seventh in the novice division last year and decided to move up just weeks before the September deadline.

“To turn down gold at novice to get pewter at juniors was a good decision,” McKernan said.

They also skated well at three international meets, placing first in Vancouver, B.C.; third in Mexico and sixth in Taiwan.

“We just found more confidence in our skating,” said McKernan, who said they have their sights set on the 2014 Olympics. “Rather than have that oppose us, we used it to our advantage.”

Sounds like advice that might have come from Dad, even if he was only here in spirit.