KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Thirteen-year-old Katie Wood survived a dynamic freestyle skating performance by Cindy Bortz to win a gold medal Wednesday in the novice ladies division of the 1985 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
In earlier finals competition, Michigan skaters Deveny Deck and Luke Hohmann won the gold medal in the junior pairs division and Massachusetts teenager Todd Eldridge, who barely missed a gold medal at the '84 nationals, fought off a strong free-skating display by hometown favorite Aren Nielsen to claim the championship in the novice men's division.
Wood, of Wilmette, Ill.,skated brilliantly through her Tuesday compulsories for a first-place position entering the night's competition, but could do no better than fifth in the freestyle.
Meanwhile, Bortz, 13, of Tarzana, Calif., won over the crowd and the judges at Kemper Arena with her dazzling style. But her ninth-place finish in compulsory figures forced her to take the silver.
Bortz had higher points with 101.17 to Wood's 100.62, and lower ordinals with 17 to Wood's 21.
But Wood came out with 7-of-9 first-place rankings with the judges while Bortz received none.
Twelve-year-old Kyoko Ina, from Cliffside Park, N.J., took the bronze medal with ordinals of 26 and 99.70 points.
The Deck-Hohmann duo, ranked first after Tuesday's prescribed short programs, edged the Northville, Mich., team of Shelly Propson and Jerod Swallow for first in the free skating and the championship. They accounted 92.00 points and 10 ordinals.
Deck, a 16-year-old from Plymouth, Mich., skates for the Detroit Skating Club, and Hohmann, 20, of Northville, Mich., represents the Buffalo Skating Club.
Propson, 15, and Swallow, 20, took the silver medal. Last year they placed sixth in the Salt Lake City nationals.
Lori Blasko and Todd Sand placed third in the free skating and took home the bronze medal. Blasko is a 14-year-old junior high student from Westlake Village, Calif., Sand, 21, is from Panarama City, Calif.
Eldredge, a 13-year-old from Chatham, Mass., missed the gold last year by 23-hundredths of a point.
He placed fourth in the free skating competition, but made up for that with his strong figure showing.
Nielsen, a 16-year-old high school student from the Kansas City suburb of Grandview, rocketed to a first-place finish in the free skating competition to the obvious delight of the crowd.
He was ranked fifth after Tuesday's figure event, but won the free skating event with 8 ordinals to Eldredge's 28. But Eldredge finished the earlier figure event with 7 ordinals to Nielsen's 36 and the Missouri skater accepted the silver.
Winning the bronze medal was Alex Chang, 13, of Seal Beach, Calif.
In the junior men's figure event, Doug Mathis, 18, from Drexel Hill, Pa., finished first, edging Scott Kurttila, 19, of Seattle, Wash., who was followed by Rudy Galindo, 15, of San Jose, Calif.
In the junior dance original set pattern competition, Jodie Balogh and Jerod Swallow finished first, giving them a first-place ranking two-thirds through the junior dance category.
Balogh, 15, is from Livonia, Mich., and Swallog, 18, is from Northville, Mich.
Brian Boitano, 21, of Sunnvale, Calif., took an early lead in the championship men's division after the figures competition.
Boitano brought in 110.20 points and only 11 ordinals.
Finishing second in the championship men's figures was Mark Cockerell, 22, of Burbank, Calif., with 108.60 points and 17 nominals. He was followed by 18-year-old Scott Williams, of Redondo Beach, Calif., with 105.20 points and 26 ordinals.
