When John Misha Petkevich conective in the National Figure Skating Championships in Tulsa. Oklahoma, last month, he surprised the judges and spectators there by skating to "On the Waterfront" by Leonard Bernstein.

That's not very unusual to those of us who don't know much about figure skating, but to those who follow the sport and are used to hearing exclusively Beethoven and Stranss. "On the Waterfront" was unexpected.

"Some people have told me that my program was much more modern than anything that's been done before." John said a few weeks ago. "Actually, in comparison to most dance forms, it was really quite conservative. But for skating it was novel," he explained.

Ljubljana

The judges at the Nationals, measured his program on the basis of content (originality) and coordination (how the program fit the music), and awarded him second place behind Tim Wood, last year's national champion. John also craned the change to compete in the World Figure Skating Championships held caller this month in Ljubljana. Yugoslavia.

In Yugoslavia, again using his innovative program. Petkevich captured fifth place, and was chosen to give skating exhibitions with the other top skaters in a two-week tour of Europe. The tour included stops at Copenhagen, Prague, Berlin, and Geneva.

John, who's traveled over most of the United States for skating competitions, had been to Europe only once prior to this month. After what he describes as his best skating performance at the Nationals in 1968 in Philadelphia, Petkevich was named to the U. S. Olympic figure skating team. Then at Grenoble, France, he took sixth place among 24 other skaters.

"That was the highlight of my career," the sophomore said. "In most sports the Olympies are the epitome of competition, and the aura that surrounds them is exhilarating. Now I'm really looking forward to the 1972 Olympies-if I make the team, I'll go to Sapora Japan," he said.

When he started skating 12 years ago, he wasn't thinking about the Olympics in Japan. "Skating was something novel to me then that I wanted to try out. Oh, I did skate once when I was two years old-I had so much energy that my parents decided that they'd better find some way for me to get rid of it. But I caught bronchitis, and didn't skate again until I was eight," he said.

"During the next few years, I made friends rapidly and really liked the kids I met skating. When I was 14 somebody told me that I could skate reasonably well, so I took it up seriously."

Now, skating has additional attractions for John. "I get a great deal of satisfaction out of making something new, and try to develop a new program every year by adding new jumps and choreographing the skating to the music. Creating this year's program was especially exciting." he explained.

After the 1972 Olympies and graduation. Petkevich plans to give up competitive skating and enter medical school. "I really have no desire to skate professionally like Peggy [Fleming] is doing now. I would probably only do that for two years or so, and instead I want to adequate a skill that will be with me the rest of my life." he said.

When he's not skating or studying, John has a few hobbies that enable him to express his creativity. "Occasionally I'll do a little painting-very little. I have a great time taking pictures-I made a big mistake not taking a camera to Grenoble. If there were two more hours in the day, I'd like to do something with music." he said.

"But you'd have to say that I don't have anything that I've pursued like I've pursued skating," he added.