Wow what an exciting night! Right down to business...

Andrea Gardiner got the championship ladies started, but had problems with her triple lutz. Her good presentation, however, helped keep her atop the stadings for quite a while! Sara Wheat had a strange trip during her footwork, which caused her to not have enough speed for her triple flip, which she had to double. Elizabeth Kwon bailed on her solo triple and saved her combination, which didn't leave her in a good position for her first senior nationals.

Angela Nikodinov was the first skater to have a totally clean program and boy did she NAIL it! Every element was performed with incredible ease, and her presentation is much improved, with great flow. She got a partial standing ovation for this wonderful performance, the best i've seen her. Stacey Pensgen might have 2-footed her combination (Couldn't quite see from my angle), but otherwise had a good skate that put her 7th overall. Amber Corwin was also on tonight, skating perfectly with her usual 3toe/3toe combination. A great performance and she was VERY happy (burried her face in her hands upon finishing)

Beatrisa Liang was the suprise of the 3rd group, skating fast and elegantly and nailing her jumps! She was definitly a crowd favorite. I was amazed by her tinyness, even more than usual since for practices we had sat so much closer (she's only 12!). But a great performance... a usually seriuos skater during practice, we finally caught her smiling when she got off the ice.. it's okay Beatrisa, you can do that more often! Nobody'll think any less of ya ;)

The final group was all about Michelle Kwan. She was absolutely spectacular tonight! Nailing her 3lutz/2toe combination, her double axel, and her 3flip jump, Michelle shined with her East of Eden program and finished to the crowd up on their feet screaming their approval. Not only was this a spectacular program, it earned her seven perfect 6.0's! How's that for a short program switch? Definitly a winning program.

It must have been tough for Sarah Hughes to follow that performance, but she stood up to the pressure just fine and went on to nail a program of equal difficulty. I love this girl's skating, and she was definitly on tonight, but she didn't quite have the magic that Michelle did... and some things weren't quite on Michelle's level. But Sarah is definitly poised to do well at this nationals, and her consistency even with skating after Michelle should NOT be taken lightly!

After Sarah, Jenny Kirk stood up to the challenge and skated another perfect program! For the hometown crowd, Jenny was greeted with lots of cheers and was incredibly excited to do so well at her second senior nationals. Consistent as ever, she wasn't quite at the level of Sarah or Michelle, but that consistency is definitly going to help her! She landed 4th place overall, behind Michelle, Sarah, and Angela.

Then Men's short program mighta been a disaster with so many falls, but the ladies short program more than made up for it! Congratulations to all the skaters, it was wonderful :)

The pairs final was very unexciting until the last group... 4 pairs facing off for 2 spots on the world team. First up was Tiffany Scott & Philip Dulebohn. Not bad at all, they landed most of their throws and their side by side triple toes, but they weren't without a fall or two, not to mention a nasty trip towards the beginning of the program. Laura Handy & Jonathon Hunt had problems of their own, falling on enough elements to put them out of contention.

The Hartsells took the ice with the confidence to win... Danielle was clapping along with the crowd, but maybe that was too much of a break in concentration... Danielle seemed to have a lot of trouble keeping her feet under her. Falling on both the triple toe and the double axel, their program was good, but not as spectacular as they were building to. Finishing behind Scott & Dulebohn, this put their chances of making hte world team very much in jeopardy.

That hope was crushed when Ina and Zimmerman skated a winning program.. with the only major problem being a stuble on a throw triple jump and a freak fall towards the end of the program, Definitly a good program, they had much better chemistry than the last time we saw them!

Okay, that's it for me... catch everyone tomorrow night... I might not get a report up because I have to take a train obscenely early to make it up to school before Monday classes, but I'll try my best and at the least get photos up.

Photos From Today