SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Eliot Halverson
Eliot HalversonBorn: November 8, 1990, Bogota, Colombia
Height: 5’7â€
Level: Senior
School: Home Schooled
Home Club: St. Paul FSC, Inc.
Hometown: St. Paul
Training Town: St. Paul
Coach: Ted Engelking, Ann Eidson
Choreographer: Svetlana Kulikova
St. Paul’s own Eliot Halverson has won three consecutive medals at the U.S. Championships, placing first in both 2006 (novice) and in 2007 (junior). At the 2008 U.S. Championships, Eliot will skate for the first time as a senior. On April 21, 2007, St. Paul celebrated its first annual “Eliot Halverson Day.â€
Alexander Johnson
Born: May 15, 1990, Minneapolis
Height: 5’9â€
Level: Junior
School: Hopkins Senior High School
Home Club: Braemar-City of Lakes FSC, Inc.
Hometown: Minnetonka
Training Town: Edina
Coach: Joan Orvis
Choreographers: Sebastien Britten, Joan Orvis
One of Minnesota’s up-and-coming stars, Alex Johnson, began skating at the age of 3, when his father flooded the backyard with water to make a rink. He skated in Champions on Ice at the Target Center in Minneapolis on May 12, 2007.
Rohene Ward
Born: June 28, 1983, Minneapolis
Home Club: USFSA
Hometown: Minneapolis
Training Town: Minneapolis
Coach: Page Lipe
Choreographer: Rohene Ward
Rohene Ward began skating at the age of 7 when, after a field trip to a skating rink, a summer camp counselor told his mother that he should take lessons. Besides skating in national and international competitions, Rohene also coaches and provides choreography instruction to other skaters.
Kirsten Olsen
Born: October 20, 1991, Burnsville
Height: 4’11-1/2â€
Home Club: Starlight Dance Club
Hometown: Savage
Training Town: Minneapolis
Coach: Rohene Ward
Choreographers: Tracy Keefer,
Rohene Ward
If Kirsten looks familiar, it could be that you recognize her from the Disney movie Ice Princess, where she played the role of Nikki Fletcher, the “Jumping Shrimp.†Kirsten placed fifth on the novice level at the 2005 United States Figure Skating Championships and came in ninth at the junior level at the 2007 U.S. Championships.
Past champions of the U.S. Championships include:
– Three time U.S. champion and Minnetonka native Jill Trenary
– Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan
– Olympic medalist Timothy Goebel
– World ice dancing silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto
– Olympic champions Scott Hamilton, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and Dick Button
