1972 US Figure Skating Championships

1972 US Figure Skating Championships
Type:	National Championship
Date:	January 13 – 16
Season:	1971–72
Location:	Long Beach, California
Venue:	Long Beach Arena
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The 1972 U.S. Figure Skating Championships was held from January 13–16 at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California. Medals were awarded in three colors: gold (first), silver (second), and bronze (third) in four disciplines – men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing – across three levels: senior, junior, and novice.

The event determined the U.S. teams for the 1972 Winter Olympics and 1972 World Championships.

The 1972 Championships marked the introduction of a significant innovation: the use of a computer to calculate the competition results for the first time at the U.S. Championships. The initial version of the scoring software, called "Hal", was written by volunteer Al Beard in FORTRAN, and ran via a remote terminal link on a time-sharing system donated by Honeywell in Minneapolis, where Beard was employed. Although the computer results were used for public announcements of the results, the rules of the time actually required hand computation of the official results, so this was done after the fact.^[1]

Senior results[]

Men[]

The men's competition saw something of an upset as defending champion John Misha Petkevich had a poor free skating, missing both his triple salchow and triple loop jumps. Kenneth Shelley, on the other hand, had one of the best performances of his career, allowing him to take the title with the first-place votes of 4 of the 7 judges. He became the first skater to win national titles in both senior men and pairs since 1941, and the first in postwar history to qualify for the Winter Olympics in two disciplines.

Rank	Name
1	Kenneth Shelley
2	John Misha Petkevich
3	Gordon McKellen
4	John Baldwin, Sr.
5	Robert Bradshaw
6
7
8	David Santee
9
10
11
12

Ladies[]

In compulsory figures, Julie Lynn Holmes took the lead over Janet Lynn. But Lynn easily won the free skating with a faultless performance while Holmes skated cautiously. Second place in the free skating went to Dorothy Hamill, who probably performed the most difficult program but nonetheless could not overcome her deficit in the figures to reach the podium. Suna Murray captured the bronze medal.

Rank	Name
1	Janet Lynn
2	Julie Lynn Holmes
3	Suna Murray
4	Dorothy Hamill
5
6
7
8	Melissa Militano
9
10	Kath Malmberg
11
12
13

Pairs[]

The previous years' champions JoJo Starbuck / Kenneth Shelley easily defended their title without serious challenge. The pairs competition this year was notable for the new and innovative lifts performed by the second-place team Melissa Militano / Mark Militano as well as by Starbuck / Shelley. The Militanos also included a throw double axel and side-by-side double axels in their program, elements that only a few top pairs in the world were attempting in this era, but they could not match the speed and unison of the champions.

Rank	Name
1	JoJo Starbuck / Kenneth Shelley
2	Melissa Militano / Mark Militano
3	Barbara Brown / Doug Berndt
4	/ Jack Courtney
5	/ Joel Fuhrman
6	/
7	/
8	/ Johnny Johns
9	/
10	/

Ice dancing (Gold dance)[]

The previous years' champions Judy Schwomeyer / Jim Sladky easily defended their title without serious challenge.

Rank	Name
1	Judy Schwomeyer / James Sladky
2	Anne Millier / Harvey Millier
3	Mary Karen Campbell / Johnny Johns
4	/
5	/
6	/
7	Colleen O'Connor / Jim Millns
8	/
9	/
10	/
11	/
12	/
WD	/

Junior results[]

Men[]

Rank	Name
1	Terry Kubicka
2	Scott Cramer
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Ladies[]

Rank	Name
1	Wendy Burge
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Pairs[]

Rank	Name
1	/
2	/
3	/
4	/
5	/
6	/
7	/
8	/ Bill Fauver
9	Sheryl Franks / Michael Botticelli

Ice dancing (Silver dance)[]

Rank	Name
1	Michelle Ford /
2	/
3	/
4	/
5*	/
6*	/
7*	/
8*	Stacey Smith /
9*	/
10*	/

* Eliminated before final round

Novice results[]

Men[]

Rank	Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Ladies[]

Rank	Name
1
2
3	Robin Wagner
4	Barbie Smith
5
6
7
8
9

References[]

Sources[]

• "Nationals", Skating magazine, Mar 1972