Like every other guy competing in Monday's novice men's free skate, Daniel O'Shea wanted to win. He had a little more incentive, though.
O'Shea's father promised him last year that if Daniel earned a victory at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, he could have a puppy. Daniel didn't forget, and soon he hopes to choose a golden retriever -- which will match the medal he won at Xcel Energy Center. On the day champions were crowned in all four novice disciplines, none got the bonus that awaited O'Shea.
Marissa Secundy of Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs finished first in the women's free skate to win the women's novice title, and Broadmoor teammates Brynn Carman and Christopher Knierim matched her feat in the novice pairs. Chloe Wolf and Rhys Ainsworth of the University of Delaware/North Atlantic skating clubs won the novice dance with a total score of 110.69.
"I was eighth [in novice men] last year, so this was a big step up for me," said the 16-year-old O'Shea, who lives in Gurnee, Ill. "My goal was to come in and place in the top four, and I did it. I'm happy."
O'Shea caught a football thrown by his dad, Donald, after a free skate that pushed his total score to 145.92 points. Ross Miner of the Skating Club of Boston was second with 135.81, and David Wang of Southern California's All Year Figure Skating Club finished third.
Secundy finished second in Sunday's short program but won the free skate -- and the title -- despite two falls. The 2006 national champion in the juvenile girls division finished ahead of Sophia Lamay of Texas Gulf Coast Skating Club, who won the short program but was fourth in the free skate. Secundy had a total score of 110.38 to Lamay's 108.41.
Samiera Abou-Nasr of Woodbury skated a fine long program and finished 10th overall. When she and coach Tom Incantalupo met in the kiss-and-cry area, she was all smiles as her score came up. Abou-Nasr, 16, earned 61.23 points for her free skate and had a total of 87.60.
"I was really calm," said Abou-Nasr, who had many family members drive from Omaha to see her skate. "I was really trying to soak it up. This was a new experience. Now I know what to expect."
Broadmoor's powerful skating program produced the gold and silver medalists in novice pairs. Carman and Knierim, second in the short program, won the free skate ahead of clubmates Brittany Chase and Andrew Speroff.
They are part of a group of outstanding pairs coached by Dalilah Sappenfield, who also guides Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss -- among the favorites in the junior competition -- as well as Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, highly regarded seniors this year after winning world and national junior titles in 2007.
"The teams are very competitive, but they're also each other's best support," Sappenfield said. "We don't deal with a lot of egos."
