Monday February 14th, 2011

Hey all -
  I am back from American Cup III in Midland Michigan finally having put together a consistent performance. I finished 7th overall, a vast improvement from 27th overall at Am Cup I and 18th overall at Am Cup II. There are some external reasons for the horrid results at the beginning of the year as were documented here: The skate/blade problems; also at Am Cup I, most people were bumped down who were at this competition for that was a World Team qualifier so naturally all the top skaters in the country were there. They were not present at the next two Cups. However, I have clearly improved a lot in pure strength, quickness, fitness, and technique. At Am Cup III I set personal bests in the 1000m and 1500m which is more significant now that I've skated in Salt Lake City because in Salt Lake is where most everyone's Personal Bests are set. In the 1000m, I did a 1:29.2 braking my previous best of 1:30.4 (Salt Lake) which was huge for me. I did not feel that taxed at the end of the race and I actually made an outside pass on the last corner to qualify for the next round in the heat. I thought our race would be the slowest of the four heats. I told a guy who was in the race it would probably be around 1:33 as I did not feel like we were ever going that fast. Ours was the fastest heat!
  I did one 1500m at 2:20.0, I believe and one at 2:20.4. The first was a frustrating race in which I had to get top 3 to qualify for the A final (which would have been an upset anyway, but I could have done it if I hadn't slipped) I was in 3rd when I slipped and found myself in 5th. I slowed up then to conserve for the B final so the time could have been under 2:20.0. Excuses excuses, but its fun to think about. The B final was significant because... I won it. It was the last race of the weekend, the super final. I felt very good and moved into the lead with about 10 or 9 to go. Then my teammate and housemate Cole took the lead with about 5 to go and I followed him at a rapid pace. I was content to have a Pittsburgh 1 2 finish and was just trying to hold a very tight track behind Cole so that the third place skater could not pass but then Cole slipped due to his blade as I did a big crossover out of the second to last turn and I found myself in first and him in second. Videos will be up soon as my dad was there. So happy him and my uncle Steve could be there! Also glad I finally skated well when they were there. I finished 2nd in the first 1500m B final, 2nd in the 500m B final, 4th in the 1000m B final (my stupidest race) and 1st in the 1500m Super B Final. John Henry finished 3rd overall skating conservatively a week before Junior Worlds ( They leave next Sunday). Cole had a meet from hell and finished BEHIND me in the overall standings after a medley of crashes, blade problems and bad strategy. Hopefully this finish will put me in the top 16 overall in the Am Cup series rankings because then I will be able to compete in Am Cup Finals at the Nationals in Wausau in 4 weeks instead of age class division.