U.S. Championships: Upset in Pairs as Castile and Okolski Grab Title, Belbin and Agosto Golden, Juniors and Novice Results Options

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Upset in Pairs as Castile and Okolski Claim Title;
Belbin and Agosto Win Fourth Ice Dance Crown

Brooke Castile (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) and Ben Okolski (Ann Arbor, Mich.) upset reigning U.S. champions Rena Inoue (Santa Monica, Calif.) and John Baldwin, Jr. (Santa Monica, Calif.) to win the U.S. pairs title at the 2007 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash.

Tanith Belbin (Northland, Mich.) and Ben Agosto (Chicago, Ill.) claimed their fourth straight U.S. ice dancing title. And reigning U.S. novice champion Eliot Halverson (St. Paul, Minn.) won back-to-back U.S. titles by securing the junior men’s gold medal. Earlier in the week, Mirai Nagasu (Arcadia, Calif.) won the junior ladies gold medal.

SENIOR PAIRS

Castile and Okolski arrived in Spokane, Wash., earlier this week without much notice. The Michigan-based pairs team finished eighth last year at the U.S. Championships in St. Louis and placed second in their qualifying sectional for this year’s event.

Defending champions Inoue and Baldwin had understandably grabbed all the pre-event press. But when it was over, it was Castile, 20, and Okolski, 22, standing on top of the podium. Their flawless free skate to the “Requeim for a Dream” soundtrack vaulted them from third after the short program to first place.

The new champions set the tone early in their free skate by nailing their throw triple twist. They received bonus points for their throw triple loops and double Axels. The only negative grade of execution came on their level four combination spin. “It was everything we wanted to do today, and we skated nice and strong,” Castile said. “It felt great to skate like that at nationals. It’s like my dream; it felt really good.”

Inoue, 30, and Baldwin, 33, each had a fall in their free skate – Inoue on the throw triple Axel and Baldwin on the side-by-side triple toe loops. Leaders after the short program, they finished second. Their silver medal marks their fifth at the U.S. Championships (2003: third, 2004: first, 2005: second, 2006: first, 2007: second).

After Inoue and Baldwin skated, the door was left open for Naomi Nari Nam (Irvine, Calif.) and Themi Leftheris (Long Beach, Calif.), and their free skate to the music “Caravan.” They busted out by landing their triple toe-triple toe sequence and triple twist. But moments later Nam fell on their throw triple Salchow and throw triple loop. They earned the bronze medal in their second year as a team.

Castile and Okolski and Inoue and Baldwin will represent the United States at the World Figure Skating Championships in March in Tokyo, Japan.

SENIOR PAIRS RESULTS
TOP THREE

1. Brooke Castile & Ben Okolski 178.40
2. Rena Inoue & John Baldwin 178.15
3. Naomi Nari Nam & Themi Leftheris 168.49

SENIOR ICE DANCING

Belbin and Agosto debuted their new free dance to “Amelie” Friday night after their previous program to “That’s Entertainment” received lukewarm feedback from fans and judges earlier in the season. Amazingly, they put the new program together in four weeks, and the gamble paid off. With an increase of speed and poetic movements, their new program featured a handstand lift and a lift featuring Belbin in a Biellman position.

“We feel great,” Belbin said. “That was a really sound performance. For the first time out to be relatively clean and to feel like we did capture the character here and there was a huge achievement.”

With this victory, Olympic silver medalists Belbin and Agosto have now won their fourth U.S. title. They were named to the 2007 U.S. World Team, along with Melissa Gregory (Chicago, Ill.) & Denis Petukhov (Hartford, Conn.) – who finished second – and Meryl Davis (West Bloomfield, Mich.) & Charlie White (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) – who finished third in their first year on the senior level.

Gregory and Petukhov skated full out to “Adam and Eve,” with deep intensity and powerful emotion. Their silver medal now brings their U.S. total to four, with silvers every year since 2004.

Davis and White had excellent synchronized twizzles and innovative lifts during their “Prince Igor Polovtsian Dances” program. The reigning U.S. junior champions stepped up amidst the talented pool of seniors and proved they belong. As training partners with Belbin & Agosto, the teams will travel together to the World Championships in March.

SENIOR ICE DANCING RESULTS
TOP THREE

1. Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto 202.88
2. Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov 187.64
3. Meryl Davis & Charlie White 184.11

JUNIOR MEN

Halverson cruised to the U.S. junior men’s title Friday, adding it to his novice title of 2006. The last man to pull the out the double victories in consecutive years was two time World bronze medalist Evan Lysacek, who won the novice title in 1999 and followed it up with junior gold in 2000.

“I feel incredible,” Halverson said just after stepping off the ice. “That was definitely the program I wanted to do. I wouldn’t change anything.”

While he was solid in his jumping technique, landing seven clean triples (the back end of a triple Lutz-triple toe combination was downgraded), it was his presentation that set him apart.

American junior men, including Halverson, had extraordinary success on the international circuit this year. The 16-year-old, who was adopted from Bogota, Colombia, as an infant, won two medals in the Junior Grand Prix Series but failed to qualify for the JGP Final.

Brandon Mroz (St. Louis, Mo.) did qualify and finished with the silver medal in Bulgaria. He collected the silver medal Friday as well. His only major error was a bad stumble out of the double Axel, but he had a few bobbles throughout.

Mroz’ training mate in Colorado Springs, Austin Kanallakan (Colorado Springs, Colo.), found himself in sixth after the short program. Perhaps it took some pressure off, because he managed to win the free skate by a sliver over Halverson, 122.90-122.67. His element score of 68.04 outpaced the field but the deficit was too much to overcome the leaders. He won the bronze.

He landed seven triples, including an opening triple flip-triple toe combination that received all positive grades of execution. For the first time, he also landed both double Axels in his program.

JUNIOR MEN’S RESULTS
TOP THREE

1. Eliot Halverson 187.79
2. Brandon Mroz 178.56
3. Austin Kanallakan 177.94

JUNIOR LADIES

On Tuesday, in her first appearance at a U.S. Championships, 13-year-old Mirai Nagasu (Arcadia, Calif.) won the junior ladies gold medal at the 2007 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane, Wash.

In front of more than 6,000 fans at the Spokane Arena, Nagasu landed five triples and combined that with spectacular spins to capture the junior ladies free skate. Junior Grand Prix Final champion Caroline Zhang (Irvine, Calif.) fell on a triple flip midway through her program and finished second. Last year’s fourth-place finisher, Ashley Wagner (Alexandria, Va.), moved up one spot to claim the bronze medal.

Although Nagasu’s win was a surprise, considering Zhang dominated the Junior Grand Prix circuit, she didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. Coached by Charlene Wong, Nagasu won both the regional and sectional titles this year after a disappointing 2005-06 season. She finished fifth as a novice at the 2006 Southwest Pacific Regional, failing to qualify for the ensuing sectional competition.

“Last season was a disaster because I didn’t make it out of regionals,” she said. “I was one of the people who expected to go, and that maybe made me overconfident. This year I worked to live up to my potential.”

Nagasu’s jumps included a triple Lutz-double toe combination and a triple loop-double loop combination. She attempted a second triple Lutz late in the program, but it was downgraded to a double. On her level three layback spin, she earned six plus 2 grades of execution and a rare +3. She also earned level fours on her spiral sequence and final combination spin.

Zhang opened with a smooth triple Lutz-double toe-double loop combination and then did a back spiral into a double Axel. After falling on the triple flip, she went on to land a triple loop, triple Lutz, a triple flip-double toe, and triple toe-double toe combination.

“It was OK, besides the flip,” Zhang said about her performance. “I could have landed it, because I landed them all in warm-up today; it was just a stupid thing. I wasn’t paying attention much on it.”

JUNIOR LADIES RESULTS
TOP THREE

1. Mirai Nagasu 155.46
2. Caroline Zhang 151.88
3. Ashley Wagner 145.86

JUNIOR PAIRS AND ICE DANCE

In pairs, it was Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker who were golden. Bianca Butler and Joseph Jacobsen took the silver medal and Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss claimed the bronze.

In ice dance, the U.S. junior title went to Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates. Madison Hubbell and Keiffer Hubbe captured the silver medal and Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt
earned the bronze.

NOVICE

On Monday four new U.S. novice champions were crowded, revealing the next wave of U.S. Figure Skating stars. In ladies, Angela Maxwell (Hurst, Texas) skated to the novice title, and Armin Mahbanoozadeh (Fairfax, Va.) pulled off the win in men’s. In pairs, Tracy Tanovich (Bradenton, Fla.) & Michael Chau (Oakdale, Minn.) ran away with the title, winning by more than 11 points. And in ice dancing, the brother-sister team of Maia and Alex Shibutani (Colorado Springs, Colo.) took top honors.