Hi Everyone! Today was filled with novice action, and I am definitly glad we picked up all-event tickets -- they were pretty darn good! I definitly enjoyed the entire afternoon/evening.

The day started around 1PM with the novice dance finals. They were all pretty good, a couple of falls getting in the way of some otherwise perfect and exciting programs. Kate Slattery and Patrick Connelly skated a nice program to Gladiator, Cheryl Russell and Kenny Metzger skated to Flamenco music. The winners were the hometown favorite team of Victoria Devins & Kevin O'Keefe, who performed an elegant and smooth program. Bronze medalists Sarah Solomon & Benjamin Cohen.

Things got exciting with the men's novice finals, and the energy in the building definitely picked up. The competiton was won by Matthew Lind, who took the competition with a slightly shaky program, but one which included 2 triple lutz attempts (one landed, the other fallen out of, but part of a combination). Right behind him was Adam Aronowitz, who skated fast, with lots of energy and style, incredibly tight jumping rotation, but didn't always have his feet under him which was vital since he didn't have the triple lutz that Matt Lind had. The performer of the night was Egor Matsipura. He was definitly on, had a lot of speed, and landed a lot of jumps! No triple lutz, but he did earn a second place finish in the free skate to earn a bronze medal overall.

The ladies event was a lot of fun too. After a slow start, the competition built towards the final groups. One of my favorites was DeAnna Clark who skated to Vivaldi for her long program. She was consistent, but not perfect. THe final group came down to a shaky performance from the leader, Jennifer Don, who still managed to hold onto a bronze medal. My favorite was the silver medalist, Shanell Noji, who had a great program with innovative spins and choreography, but a fall on one of her two triple jump attempts. The winner was Kelsey Drewel who also had a great program with only one fall.

Finally, the pairs finished off the evening. A crowd favorite was the team of Amanda Harris and David Sanders, who had a clean program, but couldn't quite come up from the 11th place they were in after the short program with a program that wasn't quite as difficult as their competitiors.The winners and most deservingly so were the pair of Jayne Mayne & Josh Martin. They skated a spirited and clean program to The Patriot and finished to a loud crowd ovation.

Well, it was a long day, and it's taken me a while to get this all up, so that's it from Boston today. Tomorrow the plan is to get to the fleet center and catch some of the championship mens and ladies practices, and then to hopefully catch the junior pairs short program. Check back!