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Humble champions: Mahbanoozadeh, Maxwell show unassuming side after novice wins

Jeff Bunch  •  Staff writer
Published January 23, 2007

Angela Maxwell performs her winning routine. (Jed Conklin The Spokesman-Review ) Also today Harrowing experience: Pairs skater Baldwin recounts December mugging. Page C6

The men's and ladies novice champions were modest about their skating Monday at the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane.

Men's champion Armin Mahbanoozadeh and ladies champion Angela Maxwell weren't overwhelmed with their efforts.

On the other hand, in something of an understatement, both said they were "happy with their skates."

Now they are U.S. champions after their second nationals competition.

"I was really happy with the way I skated, I really didn't care what place I got," said Maxwell, 14, of Hurst, Texas.

"Now does it matter?" asked a questioner.

"Yeah," she said sheepishly, "it's very exciting."

Maxwell, who finished 11th last year in the division, edged out three skaters who were competing in their first nationals. Her score of 131.65 put her slightly ahead of Kristine Musademba (129.25), Carolyn-Ann Alba (124.75), and Deedee Leng (124.51).

Musademba, a 14-year-old from Silver Spring, Md., didn't think she had a perfect free skate, but the appreciative Arena crowd disagreed.

"Actually, it wasn't really clean, I had a little step-out, but I enjoyed the program," she said.

Alba, 13, of Anaheim, Calif., fell from first place after the short program.

Mahbanoozadeh said his artistry isn't as good as the technical part of his skating, but that his free skate is definitely better than his short program.

Mahbanoozadeh was the seventh-place finisher at last year's nationals, but took first on Monday with a near-perfect free skate. He fell only on the last of his five jumps.

"I sort of had a rough warmup, but I tried to keep it together," the 15-year-old from Fairfax, Va., said. "I knew I'd done this in practice a lot and I felt really good. Even at the end, I sort of knew as soon as I took off that it wasn't gonna work."

He was the leader coming out of the short program and his total score of 138.77 put him just ahead of Alexander Johnson (135.90) and Keegan Messing (135.01), who were second and third.

Johnson, 16, of Minnetonka, Minn., finished ninth in novice at the 2006 nationals. He said that prior experience helped him in this event as he scored a personal best.

Messing had been sitting in first since skating fourth when Johnson took the ice six positions later.

"When I saw the scores, I was, like, 'I can't just believe I did that,' " Johnson said.

He hopes to be skating at next year's event in St. Paul, Minn., as a junior.

Messing is a 4-foot-4 product of Girdwood, Alaska, who was skating in his first nationals. He had captured both the Northwest Pacific Regional and the Pacific Coast Sectional on his way to the event.

"It's kind of exciting," he said. "It's kind of fun to have that good of a season."

In other events Monday:

Junior Dance: Michigan-based Emily Samuelson, 16, and Evan Bates, 17, lead after the first two compulsory dances by a narrow margin.

The event continues through Wednesday.

Novice Pairs: Tracy Tanovich, 10, and Michael Chau, 16, of the Southwest Florida Figure Skating Club took first place, improving on their third-place finish at last year's nationals.

Because of age restrictions, they can't represent their country in international competition.

Novice Dance: The University of Delaware team of Sara Bailey, 16, and Kyle Herrin, 17, led after two round of compulsory dance.

The competition concluded late Monday night (after press time) with Free Dance.