Hartsells Fall Hard, Finish Third in Pairs

Steve Hartsell was courageous enough to team with his sister, Danielle, and skate the best short program of the pairs competition a day after he suffered a 12-stitch cut in the back of his head during a practice mishap.

But Hartsell wasn’t brave enough to look up at the FleetCenter scoreboard Friday to see the marks he and his sister--the 1999 U.S. champions--received for their mistake-ridden long program.

Although the Hartsells were sentimental favorites, they couldn’t maintain the lead they took Wednesday. An overeager Danielle fell twice in a lackluster routine, leaving room for defending champions Kyoka Ina and John Zimmerman to win the event--and for Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn to pass the Hartsells for second place and the final spot on the U.S. team at the world championships at Vancouver in March.

The Hartsells missed last year’s U.S. championships because Danielle had a fractured kneecap, suffered when Steve dropped her from a lift. They were gallant in the short program Wednesday, but the emotional wave crested and they were spent Friday.

“We came in and skated well in the short and stood up in the long,” Danielle said. “Last year we weren’t here, but at least this time we made it.”

Said Steve: “We just didn’t have it today. We made a lot of dumb mistakes. We just didn’t skate well.”

Nor did the top two couples.

Scott and Dulebohn, second at last year’s U.S. competition, fell within seconds of each other early in the program while stroking on an apparently slick spot at one end of the rink. They also had a sloppy lift, and Scott fell at the end of a jump sequence.

Ina and Zimmerman, seventh in last year’s world championships, were also less than perfect. Ina, who finished fourth with Jason Dungjen at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, stepped out of the landing of a throw triple loop. And Zimmerman unceremoniously dropped her from a few inches’ height during a transitional move, a faux pas they laughed at later.

“We were so excited at that point. There was only one element left,” Ina said.

Zimmerman said he and Ina agreed during the bus ride to the arena that they’d have to step up their effort.

“We’ve had a little bit of history of having to make a big step in the long program. It was, ‘Here we go again,’ ” he said. “We may have focused too hard, and if you focus too hard, sometimes you don’t let it flow.

“We had a good time when we were out there, especially at the end. We were laughing it up pretty much.”

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Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler of Manhattan Beach, seventh after the short program, withdrew for medical reasons after the afternoon warmup. Po Hayes and Richard Gillam of the Atlanta Figure Skating Club, last in the 15-pair field, also withdrew. . . . Gary Visconti, a two-time U.S. men’s champion and two-time world bronze medalist, was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Assn.’s hall of fame. Visconti coaches at the Culver City Ice Arena. Also inducted were 1984 Olympic women’s silver medalist Rosalynn Sumners, longtime coach Don Laws and former skater and judge Arthur Vaughn.