Above: Mia Rocco skates in the Junior Parade of Champions. Photo credit Melanie Heaney Photography
2024 National Showcase concluded Saturday in San Jose, California, with champions crowned in six Parades of Champions: senior, junior, adult, founders, duet-trio and theme event.
Ashlee Pantano successfully defended her two titles, winning her fourth consecutive adult Parade of Champions and repeating as gold medalist alongside Ashlyn Olson in the duet-trio event. Mia Rocco was victorious in both the junior and theme event’s Parades of Champions.
Koko Hirano won a career-first Senior Parade of Champions title. Carson Kandas is also a first-time champion, winning gold in the Founders Parade of Champions.
Senior Parade of Champions
Koko Hirano etched her name into the Richard Dwyer Trophy by claiming the Senior Parade of Champions title.
Representing All Year FSC, Hirano was the only skater in the event to earn over nine points for all three program components – artistic appeal, performance and skating skills – winning by over five points for a total score of 59.17.
Remington Bennet secured silver, collecting 54.07 points in total. Her skate earned its highest component score for performance with 9.11 points.
Ashlyn Olson, the event’s reigning champion, took bronze with 55.28 points.
Separated from Olson by only 0.05 points, Alyssa Kormos collected a score of 53.33 to receive pewter. Despite tying in the skating skills category, Olson came out on top thanks to a higher total factored component score.
Junior Parade of Champions
In her second Parade of Champions win of the week, Mia Rocco of The Skating Club of Boston claimed gold for the first time in the Junior Parade of Champions. Her skate earned its highest points for performance to tally an overall score of 43.26. Rocco finished fifth in this same event at last year’s competition.
In a close race for second place, Weyna Chen finished just 0.07 points ahead of Natallia Anisimava to claim silver. Chen edged out Anisimava with a score of 41.55 due in part to a 6.69 artistic appeal score. Though Anisimava tallied a higher skating skills score, she finished with bronze with 41.48 points.
Brooklyn Harris claimed pewter, scoring 40.41 points.
Adult Parade of Champions
For the fourth consecutive year, Ashlee Pantano, representing Ice House Skating Academy, secured the Adult Parade of Champions title. Her artistic appeal shined in her program, contributing 9.11 points to a 52.82 total score.
Justin Ly finished just over one point behind Pantano to clinch silver. Ly barely edged out Pantano in the performance category with a component score of 8.96, but fell behind in skating skills.
Rounding out the podium with bronze and pewter were Davin Grindstaff and Brian Padgett with 39.14 and 36.85 points, respectively.
Founders Parade of Champions
In its second year being contested at National Showcase, the Founders Parade of Champions is comprised of top skaters at the preliminary, pre-juvenile and juvenile levels.
Hailing from Alaska Association of Figure Skaters, Carson Kandas secured gold with a score of 36.82. Kandas was the only competitor to earn over six points in any of the three components.
The daughter of adult champion Ashlee Pantano, Sierra Pantano tallied 34.25 points to claim silver and her first Parade of Champions medal. Pantano finished just off the podium in fifth at last year’s competition.
Upgrading her pewter from last year to bronze in this event this year was Trishia Cerillo. Cerrillo, who also skates for the Alaska Association of Figure Skaters, earned a total score of 33.89.
Anaiah Machamer took home pewter with an overall total of 31.78 points.
Duet-Trio Parade of Champions
Olson and Pantano stood on top of the podium for the second consecutive year in the duet-trio Parade of Champions. The duo out of Michigan’s Ice House Skating Academy was the only team to score over seven points for all three program components, tallying a final score of 45.30.
Fellow Ice House Skating Academy team PAR-ty secured silver with a final score of 41.80. Their artistic appeal stood out in their program, earning them 7.29 points.
Scoring 40.63 points, Cugno and Rapkine secured bronze while Falconer 2 took home pewter, totaling an overall 36.97 points.
Theme Event Parade of Champions
Mia Rocco stood on top of the podium yet again, winning gold in the theme event.
With a total score of 41.24, Rocco, who skates for The Skating Club of Boston, collected 7.07 points for the performance component of her program.
Securing silver and 39.15 points in total, Sarah Bluberg tallied 6.93 points in the artistic appeal category, which was the highest for that component in the event.
Mylie Shook cemented her spot on the podium and the bronze medal with a score of 38.90.
Claiming his second Parade of Champions medal of the competition, this time pewter, was Ly with 35.70 points.
To view full results from 2024 National Showcase, click here.
