Meissner to headline Dec. 10 skating show

Kimmie Meissner

2:44 p.m., Dec. 2, 2005--Defending American bronze medalist Kimmie Meissner will lead a procession of present and future figure skating stars who will perform during a special national championship send-off exhibition to be held at 5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Rust Ice Arena off South College Avenue in Newark.

The exhibition will feature Meissner and more than 40 other skaters who train at the UD Ice Skating Science Development Center in advance of the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships to be held from Jan. 7-15 in St. Louis. The exhibition is expected to last about two and one-half hours.

Among the other skaters are members of the national teams from Japan, Bulgaria and New Zealand, and a host of up and coming young competitors who train on campus.

Tickets cost $12, $10 for children and senior citizens, and are available at the UD box offices in the Trabant University Center or the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center, or through Ticketmaster.

Tickets also will be sold at the Rust Ice Arena beginning at 4 p.m. on the day of the show. That is when the doors will open. All seating will be general admission.

Meissner, a 16-year-old student at Fallston High School in nearby Maryland who competes for the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, stunned the crowd and the judges when she landed a triple Axel at the 2005 national championships in Portland. It was the first by an American woman in competition since 1991 and put Meissner on the podium alongside champion Michelle Kwan and runner-up Sasha Cohen.

A top showing again this year would earn Meissner a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, which will compete in Turin, Italy.

Meissner will close the exhibition. She will be preceded by lbena Denkova and Maxim Stavitskiy, Bulgarian world team members in ice dance; Shaun Rogers, silver medalist at the Eastern sectional championships; Tiffany Scott and Rusty Fein, Eastern pair gold medalists; and Christine Zukowski, a Junior Grand Prix Finalist. Scott competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City with Philip Dulebohn.

Also skating in the post-intermission group will be Nozomi Wantanabe and Akiyuki Kido, Japanese world team ice dancers; Megan Williams-Stewart, Eastern bronze medalist; Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre, Eastern dance gold medalists; Megan Oster, Midwestern pewter medalist; Joel Watson, New Zealand national team member; Geoff Varner, Junior Grand Prix Finalist bronze medalist; Bridget Namiotka and John Coughlin, Junior Grand Prix Finalists; and Jordan Miller, Eastern junior gold medalist.

The exhibition will open with the event’s youngest skater, seven-year-old Emmanuel Savary, South Atlantic juvenile boys bronze medalist and junior national team member.

Skaters who will perform before intermission also include: Meredith Pipkin and Ryan Troxell, North Atlantic juvenile pair champions and junior national team members; Holly Alexander, South Atlantic juvenile girls champion and junior national team member; Anastasia Cannuscio and Geoffrey Varraux, South Atlantic intermediate dance bronze medalists and junior national team members; Andrew Nagode, South Atlantic juvenile boys champion and junior national team member;

Alexis Hauser and Kyle Herring, Eastern novice dance pewter medalists; Zachary DeWulf, Eastern Sectional novice men’s pewter medalist; Isabella Cannuscio and Zachary Varraux, Eastern novice dance bronze medalists; Rachel DeRita and Peter Briccotto, Eastern novice pair silver medalists; Hilary Ho, Eastern novice ladies silver medalist; Genevieve Deutch and Alexander Lorello, Pacific Coast novice dance bronze medalists;

Meg Byrne and Nate Bartholomay, Eastern novice pair champions; Craig Ratterree, Eastern junior men’s pewter medalist; Adam Rippon, Eastern junior men’s bronze medalist; Melissa Bulanhagui, Eastern junior ladies silver medalist; Traighe Rouse, Eastern junior men’s silver medalist; and Kaela Pflumm and Chris Pottenger, Eastern junior pair champions.

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