Skaters Take Home Hardware
January 16, 2007
Simon leads Marsicano at Junior Nationals
MARQUETTE, Mich.—United States Olympic Education Center skaters returned home last night (Jan. 15) from the World Junior Short Track Championships held Jan. 12-14 in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic, with silver medals in hand.
Marquette Senior High School senior Jeff Simon (Long Beach, Calif.) started the medal count by placing second in the 500-meter finals.
“I started in lane four [the outside lane], so I knew I would have a tough race,” said Simon. “I have top speed, but not acceleration, so I started out in the back and tried to stay out of trouble. I worked the whole time to build speed and I caught up with the rest of the group in the last four laps. I set up an inside pass right before crossing the finish line.
“After the race, everything was quiet. They showed my name in second on the screen and [USOEC head coach and Junior World Team head coach] Jimmy [Jang] screamed, ‘yes!’ My teammates gave me high-fives and hugs. They set the podium up on the ice and I got my medal. It was a good feeling.”
Simon placed sixth in the 1500m semifinals, fourth in the 1000m quarterfinals and fifth in the 1500m super final. By the end of the three-day competition, he had secured a fifth-place overall ranking in the men’s standings.
“It’s been several years since an American has placed that high,” said Simon. “But I just see it as another stepping stone to my ultimate goal [the Olympics].”
USOEC resident athlete and MSHS freshman Simon Cho (Laurel, Md.) and short-term athlete Trevor Marsicano (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) competed in the 2000m relay with Simon. The athletes raced their way to the finals where skaters from Canada and France went down early in the race. The American team pushed themselves to maintain a solid second-place position behind Korea, but Cho fell later in the race. Simon tagged him and made a final exchange with Marsicano, who skated the final three and a half laps of the race. The Americans crossed the line fourth, but won silver when Canada and France were disqualified. Canada was charged with impeding and France was called for making a late exchange.
“It’s been five or six years since the USA has made it to the relay finals,” said Simon. “He [Cho] was pretty upset [about the fall] after [the race]. I told him it was okay. We had really good communication and exchanges, but I would have rather done it on ability and had to skate hard to get there [on the podium]—that’s short track. It’s unpredictable.”
Individually, Cho placed fourth in the 500m semifinals. He was unable to advance out of the preliminary 1000m heats as a fall dropped him to fourth place in his race. Cho was also disqualified in the 1500m heats.
Marsicano finished third in the 500m heats and fifth in the 1500m semifinals. He was disqualified in the 1000m heats and was unable to advance.
On the women’s side, Northern Michigan University freshman Katherine Reutter (Champaign, Ill.) placed third in the 1500m semifinals and 1000m quarterfinals. She also skated the 500m, taking fourth in the preliminary heats.
MSHS sophomore Mary Grace (Wilmette, Ill.) finished fourth in the 1500m semifinals and the 1000m quarterfinals. She was disqualified in the 500m heats.
USOEC short-term athlete Alyson Dudek (Milwaukee, Wis.) placed fifth in the 1500m quarterfinals. She also finished fourth in the 500m quarterfinals and 1000m semifinals.
The three women also skated to a fifth-place finish in the 2000m relay.
“The girls skated fast and smart. In the relay, they were right up there with Korea and China the whole time. They put themselves back on the map as contenders,” said Simon.
