Notebook: New partner, same result

Rockne Brubaker capped what he called “my favorite year” and “my favorite nationals” by teaming with his new partner, Keauna McLaughlin, to overwhelm the rest of the field in Thursday’s Junior Pairs competition of the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

It was the second U.S. Junior Pairs title for the 20-year-old Brubaker, who skated to victory in 2005 with Mariel Miller before the former partners split just prior to last year’s U.S. Championships.

“It’s just a great experience,” Brubaker said after he and McLaughlin wowed an appreciative Arena crowd with an imaginative free-skate program that included two throw triples and gave them a score of 162.33 that easily topped the 146.83 turned in by silver medalists Bianca Butler and Joseph Jacobsen.

“This is probably my favorite nationals.”

It certainly beat last year, when Brubaker, who skates out of the Broadmoor (Colo.) Skating Club, watched the U.S. Junior Pairs finals from the stands after parting ways with Miller.

“I was just kind of spectating last year,” he said.

But he was back on center stage Thursday with the 14-year-old McLaughlin, a member of the Los Angeles Figure Skating club, who trains with Brubaker in Colorado Springs.

The two, skating to “Dance of the Nights” from “Romeo and Juliet,” opened their free-skate program with a throw triple that energized the crowd.

They fought through McLaughlin’s fall on a throw triple loop to finish big and win over the judges.

“The middle section, obviously from the throw loop, was a little shaky,” Brubaker said. “Aside from that, though, I felt like we really finished strong. One thing I thought we did really well is kind of keep it together. We made the last section strong and I thought, overall, it was a good performance.”

The team of Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss finished third in the Junior Pairs with a score of 143.27.

Named for fame

Nearly everywhere Rockne Brubaker goes, he is asked about his first name, which sounds like it should belong to a middle linebacker rather than a figure skater.

As it turns out, it does.

“It’s my dad’s name,” explained Brubaker, who goes by Rockne Brubacker II. “My dad was a good football player.”

According to Brubaker, his father played linebacker for DePauw University.

“He got some letters from, like, Notre Dame and stuff, but we wanted to focus on school more.”

Brubacker, who played basketball, ran track and wrestled in high school, said he, too, has a long-standing love for football.

“I would have liked to have played,” he said, “but I was pretty busy, and it came down to where I had to choose one (sport) over the other.”

Skate club hat trick

The Ann Arbor (Mich.) Figure Skating Club, under the direction of coaches Iouri Tchesnitchenko and Iaroslava Netchaeva, established itself as one of the nation’s most prestigious earlier this week by sweeping the top three places in the Junior Dance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The winning team of Emily Samuelson and Evans Bates, runners-up Madison and Keiffer Hubbell, and third-place finishers Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt all train under the Russian-born duo of Tchesnitchenko and Netchaeva in Ann Arbor.

“I think it’s relatively unusual,” Netchaeva said of her skaters’ medals sweep. “People we’ve talked to tell us it’s not often that something like that happens. We’re obviously very proud.”

Netchaeva was not surprised that her two top teams finished 1-2.

“We knew that the top two spots would probably be our teams, just because of the international success we’ve had this year,” she said. “It was just a matter of who would be first and who would be second.

“But the third place was a surprise to us. Our couple (Kriengkrairut and Giulietti-Schmitt) had worked very hard and came in hoping for a good skate. And they delivered.

“I think it shows we have a good program, and we hope to continue to show that in the future.”

Watch for free

Officials announced that all U.S. Figure Skating Championships practice sessions held today at the Convention Center will be open to the public free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis.

Practice sessions at the Convention Center start at 10 a.m.

Admission to today’s practice sessions at the Arena, however, will still require an all-events pass.