Parker Pennington

Infobox Figure skater
title= Parker Pennington


caption=
fullname= Parker Blair Pennington
country= USA
dateofbirth= birth date and age|1984|9|13
birthplace= Hartford, Connecticut
residence= Cleveland, Ohio
height= convert|170|cm|ftin|abbr=on
coach= Carol Heiss-Jenkins,
Roberta Mitchell
formercoach= Audrey Weisiger,
Chris Conte,
Ross Lansel,
Nick Perna,
Janet Champion,
Diana Ronayne,
Glyn Watts
choreographer= Nikolai Morosov,
Pasquale Camerlengo
formerchoreographer= Olga Volochinskaia,
Renee Roca
skating club= Washington Skating Club
retired=
combined total=
combined date=
SP score=
SP date=
FS score=
FS date=

Parker Blair Pennington (born September 13, 1984 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American figure skater. He was the 2001 US Junior National Champion, the 1998 US Novice National Champion, the 1997 US Intermediate National Champion, and the 1996 US Juvenile National Champion. He is the only man to have achieved the distinction of winning Nationals on all those levels.

Personal life

Pennington graduated from Lakewood High School in 2003. [http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/2003/072903.shtml Figure Skater Parker Pennington Aims for Junior World Title - Figure Skating News ] ] His younger brother Colin Pennington also competed as an elite skater and is a former national novice champion.

Career

Parker Pennington began skating at age three. He has always been a single skater.

In 1995, Pennington won the national title on the Juvenile level. The next year, he won it on the Intermediate level. After failing to make it out of Regionals in 1997 on the Novice level, he won the 1998 Novice national title. This earned him a trip to the Triglav Trophy, his first international event, which he won.

Moving up to Junior, he was given a Junior Grand Prix event in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he placed 4th. He was then given a second, in China, where he placed 9th. He placed 3rd at the World Junior selections competition, a since-discontinued competition that served to pick the US team to the World Junior Championships, earning himself a trip to the 1999 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, which were for the last time being held before Nationals. In later years, Nationals served as the picking grounds for the Junior Worlds team. Pennington placed 16th at Junior Worlds. At the 1999 Nationals, Pennington won the bronze medal on the Junior level.

In 1999, Pennington was given two Junior Grand Prix events and placed 5th at both. He then won his Sectionals and placed 2nd at Nationals, again on the Junior level. This earned him another trip to the Triglav Trophy, where he won his second international gold medal.

In 2000, Pennington won both his Junior Grand Prix events and placed 6th at the Junior Grand Prix Final. At Nationals, he won the gold medal on the Junior level, making him the first and so far only man to win Nationals on all of the following levels: Juvenile, Intermediate, Novice, and Junior.

Pennington was originally scheduled to compete internationally on the Junior Grand Prix in the 2001-2002 season. However, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the USFSA withdrew all their skaters from the Junior Grand Prix and so Pennington was not able to compete internationally in the fall season. He placed 13th in his senior-level Nationals debut. He earned a trip to the Gardena Spring Trophy, which he won.

In the 2002-2003 season, Pennington won the silver medal at both his events and then won the bronze medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final. He placed 6th at Nationals, earning himself another trip to the World Junior Championships. However, Pennington was forced to withdraw with injury before the event began.

In the 2003-2004 season, Pennington won one Junior Grand Prix event and placed 6th at the other, and did not quality for the Junior Grand Prix Final. He withdrew from the 2004 Nationals with injury. [http://usoc.gazette.com/fullstory.php?id=6105]

For the 2004-2005 season, even though he had not competed at Nationals, he was given his first senior international event, the Finlandia Trophy, where he placed 8th. His 16th place finish at Nationals did not earn him an international assignment for the 2005-2006 Olympic season.

His placement of 9th at the 2006 Nationals earned him a trip to the 2006 Nebelhorn Trophy, where he won the silver medal behind Tomas Verner. Due to ISU rules, this medal did not earn Pennington a personal best score and did not put him on the list of seasonal best scores. That year at Nationals, Pennington placed 7th.

In 2007, he was sent to the 2007 Finlandia Trophy, where he won the silver medal, placing three points behind Verner and 16 points ahead of bronze medalist Kevin Van Der Perren. He won the silver medal at the Eastern Sectional Championships to qualify for the 2008 United States Figure Skating Championships, where he placed 11th.

In 2008, he moved back to Cleveland to attend Baldwin-Wallace College part-time while still competing.

Coaching changes

Pennington was coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins from 1992 through 2003, by Diana Ronayne from 2003 through 2005, and Janet Champion in 2006. In the summer of 2007, he moved to Fairfax, Virginia, to train under Audrey Weisiger. He lives with Tommy Steenberg's family.

For the majority of his career, Pennington has competed out of the Midwestern Section. Following his move to Weisiger, Pennington changed his home club affiliation from the Broadmoor Skating Club to the Washington Skating Club and so competed out of the Eastern Section. Pennington had previously competed out of the Eastern Section in 2003, the only season he represented the Skating Club of New York in national competition.

He changed coaches back to Heiss Jenkins in 2008 when he moved back to Cleveland.

Programs

Competitive History

*N = Novice level; J = Junior level; WD = Withdrew

References

External links

* [http://www.figureskatersonline.com/parkerpennington/ Official Site]
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