McLaughlin, Brubaker win short program

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Forget the rest of the Americans. Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker want a crack at the world.

The reigning junior world champions showed they're more than capable of hanging with the big kids, edging former champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr. to win the short program Wednesday at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. McLaughlin and Brubaker's score of 66.54 points put them 1.3 points ahead of Inoue and Baldwin going into the free skate Saturday.

"We don't go anywhere to skate for second," Brubaker said.

That's some big talk, but McLaughlin and Brubaker have the skills to back it up. In only their second season together, the two have made a meteoric rise in a discipline where couples often take years to develop. They went undefeated in the junior ranks last year, and qualified for the senior Grand Prix final last fall.

All three medalists from last year's U.S. championships missed the Grand Prix season, so McLaughlin and Brubaker were the only Americans at the final. Though they withdrew after the short program because he developed cellulitis, the experience was priceless because, at 15, she is too young for them to go to the world championships in March.

"For us, the biggest competition is against the other countries," Brubaker said. "The U.S. has some good teams, but the Canadians and Germans and Chinese, they were our main focus."

Easy to see why. While most of the top pairs bobbled their way through their programs, McLaughlin and Brubaker shone.

Their throw triple salchow covered so much of the ice, she should have had a pedometer on her to see how far she traveled. Their lateral triple twist was the best of the night, and more difficult. Unlike other couples, who go up vertically and come right back down, she twists her body so she's actually perpendicular to the ice.

And he really showed his strength as a skater when he supported her on their lift. While other men scuffle the ice with their toe picks and take jerky steps, Brubaker's steps are smooth and quiet.

"That was our best short program of the season," McLaughlin said.

It wasn't perfect, though. She had to put her hand down on their side-by-side triple salchows and their side-by-side combination spin was noticeably out of unison.

That left room for another pair to pass them with a clean program, but nobody could manage it.

Inoue and Baldwin didn't make any mistakes, but their program didn't have the difficulty expected of the top teams. Certainly not what the judges expect from a pair whose athleticism is their strength.

Their side-by-side double axels were nice, but that's a move so basic it wouldn't get them very far at junior worlds, let alone the senior version. They only did a double twist, and it still wasn't close to being as explosive as McLaughlin and Brubaker's triple twist.

They did have nice footwork, and they showcased their experience and maturity with the best unison of the night on their side-by-side spins.

"That was nice," Baldwin said. "Rena said she wanted to have fun tonight."

And that's what it's about these days, fun. The two-time champions took the entire Grand Prix season off because they wanted a break from the grind of competition, and didn't even decide until November to compete. They spent the summer and fall touring Europe and her native country of Japan.

But when it came down to it, they just couldn't resist coming back to nationals.

"I totally feel regrouped and fresh," Inoue said. "We came here for nationals to just enjoy and challenge ourselves."

Defending champions Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski, who had to sit out the Grand Prix season because she had a series of leg injuries, were third after falling on their side-by-side double axels. They scored 58.95 points.

Earlier, in the compsulsory ice dance, there was a bit of a surprise. Well, what counts as a surprise in dance.

Four-time champs Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are in first place with 41.86 points after an energetic and entertaining Yankee Polka. But that's only 1.27 points ahead of training partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Now, that's hardly the makings of an upset, and the gap will likely grow with Thursday's original dance and Saturday's free dance. Considering the Olympic silver medalists had a three-point lead at this point last year, though, this is the closest to real competition U.S. dance gets these days.

"That's great," White said. "In compulsories, there's never as much discrepancy as the others. But it's always nice to be close to such a great team."