Jumpy skaters work at competitive edge.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

Eugene figure skater Sarah Keartes jumps like a boy. Or so her friends in the realm of competitive skating like to tell her.

So it's not too surprising that when she headed to Portland to see the 2005 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, she was most interested in catching the junior men's competition.

"Men's skating is in your face. It's powerful with more of an edge," she said after a practice session on the Lane Ice Center rink early Friday morning.

Keartes' coach, Cindy Jensen, smiled at the description.

"She's a strong female skater," Jensen said. Strong enough to handle the male leads in the ice shows the local skating club puts on each year.

Keartes, a 16-year-old junior at Churchill High School, has played Prince Charming in "Cinderella" and taken the role of Danny Zuko in a production of "Grease." She's even skated as Elvis, Jensen said.

Like most competitive skaters, she got an early start. Keartes took to the ice when she was 8, drawn to the sport by her competitive nature and the fact that a good friend had begun skating, she said.

She's stayed with it - practicing daily in the morning before school and after classes in the afternoon - because she likes the challenge.

"It's so much fun, and it kind of teaches you to explore your boundaries. It's also a self-discipline thing," she said.

This year, she feels good about her skating skills and has focused on notching down the case of nerves that sets in before competition.

"One of the things I've worked on this year is relaxing, not making it such a big deal," she said.

But in the past decade, competitive skating has become a big deal, drawing high television ratings and millions of dollars in endorsement contracts for the sport's elite athletes.

Jensen, the local coach, still recalls the thrill of going to a world championship in California in 1965, where tickets for the entire event cost $6.

At the national championship in Portland this week, tickets for the entire event topped out at $495. They went on sale two years ago, Jensen said.

Membership in U.S. Figure Skating, the sport's governing body, has increased 58 percent since 1991, the year membership topped 100,000 for the first time.

Currently more than 173,000 competitors belong to nearly 600 clubs in the United States, according to the U.S. Figure Skating Web site.

Jensen attributes that growth - most of it occurring in the mid-1990s - to the media frenzy created by the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan debacle.

In the days before the 1994 national championship, an assailant smacked Kerrigan in the knee. Harding's husband was implicated in the attack, and Harding, a powerful Oregon skater and the only American female to ever land a triple axel, had to sue to remain on the U.S. 1994 Olympic skating team.

The women's short program that year had the sixth-highest TV ratings in television history.

"We had this huge surge in membership in the early '90s because it became very visible," Jensen said.

Those numbers have dropped off nationally and locally, especially in the past three years, largely because of the economic downturn, Jensen said.

But this year, there's a surge once again in group lessons, she said.

To compete at the top levels takes dedication - four to six hours a day on the rink plus a couple of hours of off-ice workout that includes weight training, dance and Pilates routines, an exercise that particularly benefits skaters, Jensen said.

Keartes wasn't the only skater on the local rink Friday morning. A half-dozen other youngsters glided across the ice working on spins and jumps.

Among them, Olivia Olsen, a 22-year-old University of Oregon psychology major, practiced a powerful yet graceful short program with an eye on the next regional meet in Jackson, Wyo., in October.

Olsen said it was unlikely she'd make it up to Portland to watch the competition, but she's already seen at least one of the national champs up close.

She competed against Sasha Cohen - second heading into today's competition - in 1999 when Olsen was just 16 and Cohen was 14.

Of the women competing, Olsen admires Michelle Kwan "for her consistency and longevity."

The championship wraps up today with men's and women's final competitions televised at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. on ABC.

Those who have missed the sheer athleticism (if not the drama) of Tonya Harding's routines, should tune in. The youngest competitor, 14-year-old Kimberly Meissner, landed a triple axel while practicing and may include it in her routine today.

And for an early look at Lane County's youngest hopefuls, don't miss the Love to Skate meet at Lane County Ice on Feb. 11, 12 and 13.

"Don't expect to see triple jumps," Jensen said, "but you never know, you could be watching a future Olympian."

CAPTION(S):

Sarah Keartes of Eugene flies across the ice at the Lane Ice Center. Keartes, 16, began skating as an 8-year-old and practices diligently six days a week. Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard UO student Olivia Olsen, 22, practices at the Lane Ice Center on Friday morning with the hope of qualifying for a regional meet in Jackson, Wyo., in October. The championship wraps up today with men's and women's final competitions televised at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. on ABC.