In the Loop

We have some of our great figure skating friends to congratulate on an incredible season!

Agnes Zawadzki, a long time friend of CherryLoop.com recently placed 4th at the US Nationals in Greensboro, NC and just a few days ago grabbed the Bronze at the Junior World Nationals.  You can read several great articles at the Ice Network about Agnes and her beautiful skating here:

Russian ladies take top spots at junior worlds
Zawadzki aims to play spoiler at U.S. Champs
Czisny triumphs as stellar season continues
Aaron picks Agnes to win at Skate Canada
Ice Network Skater Profile - Agnes Zawadzki

Ashley Cain and Joshua Reagan, also long time friends of CherryLoop.com, who hail from our hometown (well Robin's) of Dallas, TX.  We have been watching their career bloom for several years and we couldn't be happier with the results.  They traveled the world on the Junior Grand Prix tour, and recently took the Gold Medal for Junior Pairs at Nationals and placed 5th at Junior Grand Prix in December.

You can read about all of their recent accomplishments here:

Cain, Reagan impress to win junior pair crown
Ice Network Skater Profile - Cain and Reagan

One of the things we love about this sport is watching the skaters grow up on the ice.  We see sparks of genius in them when they are very young, but it takes an outrageous amount of drive and ambition to skate at the levels these skaters do.  We could not be more proud and we look forward to watching their careers in the future!

Congratulations Agnes, Ashley, and Joshua!

Travis and Robin

Well, we've been back from the Houston Fall Invitational for two weeks now and we're still putting the shop back together.  As predicted in our last blog post, we had a blast in Houston at this event.

It isn't everyday you get to hang out with an Olympic Figure Skater, and that is exactly what we got to do on Saturday.  Amanda Evora blessed us with her presence and was kind enough to take pics and sign autographs.  Our youngest daughter Violet got an autograph and a photo with Amanda.  Amanda, as you know, skated for the US at the Olympics in Vancouver with her partner Mark Ladwig.  They took the silver last year at Nationals clinching a spot in the Olympics.  They finished a strong 10th place in Vancouver, and they have a promising career ahead of them.  They appeared on the cover of Skating Magazine in the August/September edition.


Above is Amanda Evora and our littlest Violet at the Houston Fall Invitational.

Amanda Evora and Danika Burton (skater at our local rink in Tulsa)

We also got to catch up with a lot of our long time friends and customers in Houston.  Peter Cain from the Dallas Stars Figure Skating Club was there with many of his skaters.  We missed his wife Darlene and Daughter Ashley as they were preparing for the upcoming Junior Grand Prix in Sheffield England.  Ashley and her partner Josh Reagan have been on a rampage since winning the Novice Pairs Gold Medal at Nationals in Spokane last year.  This is a really exciting time for them, and we wish them the best.  They leave on Sunday, and I know they will kill it!

Read this awesome article about Ashley and Joshua at Golden Skate: Read Here


This is Ashley at regionals last year in Dallas.

We also saw Hailee Settle and her partner Rique Newby-Estrella.  Their program looks incredible.  We saw Becky Du, Zhaira Costiniano from the Senior Ladies division.  We got to know Shymali Moujan and we look forward to watching her skating career blossom.  It is so much fun to watch the younger skaters move up the ranks.  Skaters like Ashley Bratton, Megan Midkiff, Hope and Kennedy Plott, and so many others.

We'll post some more pictures as we go through them.

I can't believe that Regionals is less than 3 weeks away!  I'm still recovering from Houston.  This is notice that we will be at the Southwestern Regional Championships in Colorado Springs.  So, stop by and say hello.  We can't wait to see you!

Brianna de la Mora and Taylor Wilson took home the Gold at the United States Junior Figure Skating Championships, in Strongsville OH. They represent the Texas Gulf Coast Figure Skating Club, and are coached by Elena and Val Prudsky.  We’ve been very impressed with them since we first saw them skate at the Houston Fall Invitational over Labor Day in 2009.  At that time, they had only been skating together for 2-3 months.  We saw them skate again at the Southwest Regional Championships in Grapevine, TX. We’re very excited about their future and glad to hear that Taylor is going to stay close to home and go the University of Houston next year.  Brianna is only 10 years old and skating with fire.  We couldn’t be happier for the both of them, and we are certain you’re going to be hearing more from these two!

Mandy Garza and Brandon Frazier brought home the Bronze in Novice pairs at the US Championships in Spokane.  Mandy and Brandon represent the Texas Gulf Coast Figure Skating Club, but train with Dalilah Sappenfield’s group in Colorado Springs.  They rose from 4^th in the short program to 3^rd with an impressive 2^nd place finish in their Free Skate.  Mandy and Brandon have only been skating together for about 8 months, and this was their first Nationals.  I doubt this is the last we’ll be hearing from this pair.  They plan on moving up to Juniors next year and competing in the Junior Grand Prix Circuit.

Please join us in congratulating Brianna, Taylor, Mandy, and Brandon for seeing success after a lot of hard work.

If you know a skater, that you would like to see highlighted in our blog, please let us know by dropping us a line at info@cherryloop.com.  We love this sport and we especially love watching our skaters work hard and see success!

See you on the ice!

Travis and Robin