Congers Teen Qualifies For National Figure Skating Championships In San Jose

When coach Jason Briggs asked two of his singles skaters to skate in a drill together over the summer, he had a hunch they had potential as a pairs team.

He was right.

Roughly half a year later, , 16, of Congers and Gene Fu, 18, of Wappingers Falls participated in their first competition as a pair at the U.S. Figure Skating Sectionals in Jamestown, N.Y., where they qualified for the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif. in late January of next year. The team is currently looking for sponsors to help pay for the trip.

“Originally I was a pairs skater, and so I love pairs skating,” Briggs said. “I just thought they had potential to be a really good team if they committed to it. I knew it might be a little foreign at first, but maybe it would spark their interest.”

It did almost immediately.

Thomas said the difficulty came in learning how to think and be committed to another person while out there skating.

“It was like re-learning to skate,” Fu said. “It was fun, though, something different.”

Thomas and Fu had known each other about two years already and were friends, as they both practice at SportORama, on College Road in Monsey. Before teaming up in July, they had both competed in singles tournaments before, but hadn’t qualified for nationals.

Thomas and Fu finished third in the short program, which Thomas said made them a little nervous heading into the long program. But they finished even better in the long program, placing second, giving them a finish of third overall as the sectionals.

“We didn’t really know what to expect since it was our first competition skating together,” Thomas said. “But it went well.”

Briggs felt even better about the performance, saying it went “tremendously well,” especially since it was their first pairs competition.

“They were kind of just thrown into the deep end,” Briggs said.

They are one of just 12 teams to qualify for nationals in the novice division.

While they’ve only skated together a few months, both have been skating for years on their own. Fu has skated 10 years.

“One day I saw it on TV and thought it looked really cool,” he said.

Thomas has been skating nearly eight years after first going out on the ice at a friend’s birthday party.

“I really struggled at first, but then I started to love it,” she said.

The two have devoted a large amount of their time to skating, but still manage to get in some learning. Fu said he attends a community college near his house and Thomas said she keeps up with her work online.

Other than that, though, it’s been all skating for Thomas and Fu.

“Since we’ve started, I’ve worked with them nearly every day,” Briggs said. “I don’t mind putting in the work if people are willing to put in the work as well. And they’re both more than willing to work. They want to get better pretty badly.”