Colorado Springs' Zawadzki quietly takes 6th in women's short program

For someone who competes at the highest level of her sport, Agnes Zawadzki is surprisingly anonymous as she walks through the halls at Cheyenne Mountain High School. The Indians’ football players draw more attention from other students.

“I have a couple of friends that know about me and my skating but mostly I keep to myself,” Zawadzki said. “I’m gone out of school so many times that nobody really knows me.”

That’s likely to change as Zawadzki, 17, continues her rise among the ranks of the world’s finest figure skaters. Friday at the World Arena, she took the next step as she took sixth place in the women's short program at the ISU Four Continents Championships.

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Her placing would have been higher but for a fall she suffered during a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination early in her program.

“The fall threw me off but I feel like I regained my mental focus right back,” she said. “I did a lot of good things after I fell and that is always important.

“The stuff after you fall is what matters.”

She showed that stuff by skating nearly flawlessly the rest of her program. She’ll have a chance to show even more when she competes in the free skate, which begins Saturday at 7 p.m.

Zawadzki came to Colorado Springs in 2008 to train at with coach Tom Zakrajsek at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. In June, she switched to the duo of David Santee and Christy Krall, who also coaches defending men’s world champion Patrick Chan. She spends about a week per month with Santee in her home state of Illinois, while Krall is her coach in Colorado Springs.

Japan’s Mao Asada came out of the short program in first place with 64.25 points, followed by Ashley Wagner of the U.S. at 64.07 and Japan’s Kanako Murakami at 63.45.

Wagner won the U.S. nationals in January, but is still seething over a missed jump and that competition.

“Tomorrow, because I’m at altitude, I am just focusing on going out and putting on the best performance that I can,” Wagner said. “I do want to redeem that triple Salchow from nationals, so you’re probably going to see the triple Sal.”

With 52.87 points, Zawadzki’s probably too far behind the leaders to challenge for a top spot, which she sees as an opportunity to cut loose.

“I don’t have that much pressure on me since I’m not in medal contention,” she said. “I’m going to skate free, not worry about anything and let everything fall into place. I’m going to leave it all on the ice.

“I took that as a learning experience. I feel like the more experiences you have under your belt, the better they are to help you.”

And the more likely you are to be recognized in the hallways at your high school.