MIKE HENRY-Herald Staff Writer

ELLENTON - Figure skater Shantel Jordan thinks her victory with Jeremy Barrett in the Junior Pairs event at the Eastern Sectional Championship in Lake Placid, N.Y., earlier this month is the start of something big.

"When a pairs team stays together, they grow a connection to each other," said Jordan, an 11-year-old Palmetto resident who trains with the Southwest Florida Figure Skating Club at J.P. Igloo Ice and Inline Sports Complex.

"Jeremy (19) and I have been together two-and-a-half years, and our unison has become better. We trained all year for sectionals and I was real excited to win because of all our hard work," Jordan said.

By winning, the Jordan-Barrett connection advances to the State Farm U.S. National Figure Skating Championships from Jan. 2-11 in Atlanta.

They will be joined at nationals by the Senior Pairs team of Mark Ladwig and Amanda Evora, who returned to the Igloo last week from Zagreb, Croatia, after capturing the gold medal in the 36th annual Golden Spin.

Also advancing to nationals from the SFFSC is Bradenton Academy junior Daniel Raad, who finished fourth in the Novice Men's event at sectionals.

Raad, 16, teamed with Christine Jones to finish sixth in Novice Pairs, falling two places short of qualifying in that event.

"The U.S. National Championship is the Super Bowl of figure skating, and our five skaters are the only ones in Florida who have qualified," said J.P. Igloo director Kerry Leitch. "We have raised the bar in our training, and our skaters have all met the challenge."

Jordan and Barrett think they can challenge for a national championship if they continue to improve at practice. The pair successfully executed a triple salchow and a triple twist at sectionals in their long program, performed to the Nutcracker Suite.

"We've beaten a lot of the teams we'll be going up against," said Barrett, who commutes each morning to the Igloo from Venice. "Our programs have gotten a lot harder, and we've stepped up the choreography. Plus, Shantel has worked hard on telling more of the story in our long program through her skating."

Ladwig, 23, and Evora, 19, simply hoped to skate their best in Croatia. They did and finished first in both the short and long programs en route to the gold.

"The consistency of our difficult elements has been increasing, and we hope to continue that momentum into nationals," Ladwig said.

"We landed both of our throws in our long program, and that was our first throw triple loop in competition," Evora said. "We were the only pair to do all our lifts, which is a credit to our training."

Raad is ecstatic to be joining the Igloo's pairs teams in Atlanta. "I was real nervous for my short program, but when I got done, I knew I could qualify," said Raad, who took third in his long program skating to The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

"I trained all year for it, and I put all my heart and energy to it," Raad said.

Time to replenish the supply for nationals.