Broadmoor skater Mroz learning as he goes

By BRIAN GOMEZ The (Colorado Springs) Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Putting a priority on learning, Brandon Mroz has discovered an awful lot. So much, he has become like a sponge, eager to soak up every drop of figure skating knowledge.

He learned that stamina is important, especially in the free skate. That a four-rotation quad toeloop carries big points but hardly matters if the rest of the program contains errors. That senior-level skaters are way more competitive than junior skaters.

"You always learn, whether it's rough or your personal best," Mroz said. "You take that and run with it and apply it for next year, and that's what I plan on doing."

The Broadmoor Skating Club member doesn't feel guilty looking forward after a successful season in which he edged eventual world champion Evan Lysacek for second at the U.S. Championships and had four top-10 international finishes.

His ninth-place showing last month at the world championships in Los Angeles, coupled with Lysacek's gold medal, enabled the Americans to qualify the maximum three men's skaters for the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Which guys fill those positions—Lysacek is a lock, given his world title and fourth-place finish at the 2006 Olympics, meaning Mroz must outdo Broadmoor member Jeremy Abbott or 2006 Olympian Johnny Weir—will be determined at the next nationals in January in Spokane, Wash.

"It definitely will be hard," said Mroz, a senior at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs. "Everybody wants a spot. I'm sure people don't want a little runt like me coming ahead, so they'll be pushing their programs as much as I am."

Over the summer, Mroz plans to work with coach Tom Zakrajsek and choreographer Lori Nichol to increase the technical components of his routines. He desires the fancy moves Weir once displayed, the top-notch stuff Lysacek typically brings.

Mroz executed a quad and seven triple jumps in his long program at the worlds. Next season, he may open with a quad toe and a quad salchow—something attempted recently only by five-time world medalist Brian Joubert of France.

"Maybe we could have two quads," Mroz said. "I do have a capable mind of doing that. And I have the physical strength to pull off a program like that."

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