Eastern Iowa Figure Skating Club Announces Medalist at U.S. Juniornational Figure Skating

PRESS RELEASE

Contact:Tammie Hoover

President EIFSC

For Immediate Release

Eastern Iowa Figure Skating Club Announces Medalist at U.S. JuniorNational Figure Skating Championships

(Cedar Rapids, IA) December 3rd, 2007. The Eastern Iowa Figure Skating Cluband the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena are pleased to announce that Lauren Gifford and Carson Bodnarekplaced fourth in the nation for the Intermediate Pairs Event at the US Junior NationalChampionships in Salt Lake City, UT. The "US Figure Skating Intermediate Pairs National Pewter Medalist" were honored at an on ice medal ceremony in Salt Lake City on Saturday night and were presented their medals by the President of US Figure Skating, Ron Hershberger.

Lauren Gifford is a 7th grader at IsaacNewtonChristianAcademy and Carson Bodnarek is a junior at Iowa City High. Lauren & Carson are coached by 2006 World Junior Silver Medalist Andy Seitz, former US National & International Competitor Tanya Street-Burgess and former US Professional Champion, Amy Blades. They train at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

An IceNetwork article stated: Gifford and Bodnarek have an instantly recognizable person in their corner: Andy Seitz. After retiring from competitive skating in April, Seitz turned to coaching full time. "It's fun because [Andy's] not that far off age-wise," Bodnarek said. "We work really hard but still have fun." The pair skated to "Cirque de Soliel," a program that came together in the last three months. When they competed in August at the Indy Pairs and Dance Challenge, where they came in fourth, they were skating to Neil Diamond music, but Seitz thought they needed a change, and it looks like it was for the better. The strongest points of Gifford and Bodnarek's program were their spins, both of which were deemed level fours. Their pair’s combination spin earned 4.38 points, the most of any single element in the event. The event was very competitive; the point spread between 2nd, 3rd and 4thwas 0.7 of a point. The team wasn't even sure if it would be able to compete after Bodnarek sprained his ankle a week ago. "We're just excited we got to come," Gifford said.

Nearly 400 U.S. figure skaters descended on Salt Lake City, Utah, Nov. 26-Dec. 1 for the 2008 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships. This annual event crowns the tope 4 U.S. medalist in ladies, men's, pairs and ice dancing in the first two levels of the U.S. Figure Skating competitive structure: juvenile and intermediate. Skaters qualified for the U.S. Junior Championships by finishing in the top four at one of nine regional championships held throughout the country earlier this fall. The competition, formerly known as the U.S. Junior Olympic Figure Skating Championships, has served as a stepping stone for many elite athletes to success on the senior level.

The US Figure Skating Association is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States and is an active member in the International Skating Union (ISU) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). U.S. Figure Skating works with the ISU and USOC to continuously improve and promote figure skating worldwide. The EIFSC is the local affiliate club of the USFSA.

For further information, please contact EIFSC President, Tammie Hoover or access websites, or