Amanda Evora

Birthdate: November 17th, 1984

Hometown: Sugarland, TX

School: Manatee Community College

Home Club: Southwest Florida FSC

Hobbies: Going to the beach, collecting sand dollars, shopping, watching hockey, playing soccer, dancing, swimming, ballet, traveling

Pets: Two cats ("Sam" and "Theodore")

Motto: "If you're walking on ice, why not dance?"

Favorite Book: Memoirs of a Geisha

When She Skates... she loves entertaining and pleasing the audience with every performance and wants fans to understand the mood or feel the story she's expressing.

Fun Facts: Evora began skating at age 6 because her dad found her sister's old skates and they fit, her father works as a chemical engineer, she formerly skated with Mike Adler (2000-01), was previuosly coached by Megan Faulkner (1995-99), attends University of South Florida, majoring in business administration, teaches private skating lessons and Basic Skating Skills group lessons part time, most prized possessions are the pictures that remind her of some of the best times in her life, people may not know she is a proud aunt to her niece and nephew, Ayana and Logan, hobbies are going to the beach, spending time with family and friends, eating at new restaurants and relaxing at home watching movies, closest friends in figure skating are Jeremy Barrett, Mark Ladwig, Mikey Chau, Robbie Crowley, and Alex Hill, enjoyed traveling to Korea "because it was an equal balance of great company and beautiful sites", has a passion for the art of music, ballet, and dance, wants to contribute back to figure skating after her career as either a coach or a judge, wants to be a teacher, lists her biggest life-defining moment as when she moved away from her family to pursue her skating career, received a letter for Symphony and Orchestra, National Honor Society member from 1998-2000, would love to meet Bono from U2 because he is such an inspiration through his music, listens to Dave Matthews on her iPod.

Favorite TV shows: Heroes, Lost, The Shield, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars
Favorite movies: Love Actually, Hitch, The Departed
Favorite celebrities: Bono, Bruce Willis
Favorite book: The Secret
Favorite food: Home-cooked meals
Favorite drink: Coffee

Mark Ladwig

Birthdate: May 6th, 1980

Hometown: Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN

Home Club: Red River Valley FSC

Hobbies: Collecting new state quarters, sailing, reading, and wood working

Motto: "Dance in the rain, soak up the sun, and enjoy every moment."

When He Skates... he, like Amanda, likes to bring out the story of every performance.

Fun Facts: Mark began skating at age 5 in the man-made outdoor rink behind his house, participated in the Basic Skills Program presented by Marshalls for three years, graduated from Moorhead Senior High School in 1999, and lettered in track, band, drama and swimming, is a very busy man - besides training, he is a bartender/waiter at Gio's Fabulous Martini & Pizza Bar full time, also helps out at the club's competition every fall in a variety of capacities, supporter of March of Dimes for Premature Children - his wife, Janet Beverley Ladwig, was born a premature, and without the organization's support she would not be around today, Janet will graduate from North Dakota State University in May 2008 with a degree in interior design, formerly paired with Kelsey Sollom (1990-99), Keri Lynn Blakinger (1999-2001) and Christine Dean (2002), has been coached by Dawn Franklin (1985-99), Ron Ludington (1999-2002) and Traci Poletis (1999-2002), was an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scout of America, was a pole vaulter in high school with a personal best of 11-1/2 feet, sister, Erin, attends the University of Maryland, and brother, Todd, flies EA-6Bs as a naval flight officer, hobbies include woodworking, running and sailing, closest friend in skating is Amanda Evora, favorite foreign country so far is Korea because of its unique culture and many historic sites and friendly people, has a passion for reading, has dedication to balance making a living and training to be on the World and Olympic stage, favorite kind of music is bluegrass, biggest life-defining moment was marrying his best friend, Janet, says he and his wife would win on "The Amazing Race," and after skating, he wants to pay for college by using his winnings from the competition, would like to meet Stephen Hawking for his personal strength and creative imagination, listens to Rhonda Vincent, Ray LaMontagne, Nickelback, Tenacious D, Dave Matthews, Garth Brooks, Miranda Lambert and Travis Tritt.

Favorite TV shows: Heroes, Lost and all the shows on the History Channel
Favorite movies: Casino Royale, Ocean's 11 and 12, Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite charity/cause: March of Dimes Favorite celebrities: Alison Krauss, Paul Harvey, Garrison Keillor Favorite books: Eragon, The Secret, The Da Vinci Code, Assault on Reason, A Brief History in Time
Favorite web site: www.usatoday.com
Favorite food: Cookie soup (one bite of cookie added to one gulp of milk, chew and enjoy!)
Favorite drink: H2O and Gatorade