US Figure Skating Championships 2015: Day 6 Results and Reaction

After nearly a week of buildup, the major events started getting underway Thursday at the 2015 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

A winner was crowned in junior pairs competitions, while the ladies and pairs championships got underway with their short programs. 

In the junior pairs, it was a big day for the state of Indiana. Caitlin Fields and Ernie Utah Stevens continued their dominant run with a 98.23 in their free-skate program, running away with the gold medal. Fields and Stevens entered the final program with nearly a three-point lead over Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson before turning in a stellar minute to pull away.

Liu and Johnson, the other power couple in the field, had a run also worthy of gold-medal consideration but fell short. Their 95.88 score in the free skate gave them an overall 150.84, putting them 4.57 points behind the champions to earn silver. 

Medal	Team	Score
Gold	Caitlin Fields and Ernie Utah Stevens	155.41
Silver	Chelsea Liu and Brian Johnson	150.84
Bronze	Olivia Alla and Austin Hale	130.60

The two teams at the top proved far superior to the rest of the field. Bronze medalists Olivia Allan and Austin Hale, the latter another Indiana kid, finished closer to the ninth-place pair of Linde LaChance and Kenneth Anderson than they did to the silver medalists.

Things were a little more competitive top to bottom in the pairs short program, but there was still a very clear dominant force at the top. Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim are more than five points clear of the field following their sterling opening run of 74.01. Scimeca and Knierim, bronze medalists in the Four Continents Championships last year, entered Greensboro as early favorites and went about separating themselves with a nearly flawless run.

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

 "Chris and I skate best when we're joking around," Scimeca said of Knierim, per Rachel Cohen of The Associated Press. "When it gets too serious, that's when skating gets harder."

Scimeca and Knierim took advantage of a field that did not include most of their most bitter rivals. After finishing fourth in 2014 and barely missing out on a trip to Sochi for the Winter Olympics, the young pair seems to be coming into its own.

In second place heading into the free skate is Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, whose 68.38 put them in strong position for a medal. Their program was a solid buildup to what should be a more flair-filled affair when they get back on the ice for the final. Having won the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships, Denney and Frazier continue to look like a rising pair on the national scene.

Place	Team	Score
1	Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim	74.01
2	Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier	68.38
3	Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran	64.24
4	Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea	61.56
5	Gretchen Donlan and Nathan Bartholomay	59.81

Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran sit in third place. Castelli was a member of the United States' bronze-medal outfit in the Sochi Team Skate competition. She had previously paired with Simon Shnapir to win each of the last two U.S. Championships.

The jumbling of the field begins after Castelli and Tran. Fourth-place Tarah Kayne and Danny O'Shea are separated from eighth-place DeeDee Leng and Simon Shnapir by less than five points. Its should make for an interesting race to the finish during the free skate.

The final event of day was the one many were most anticipating, as Olympians Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold and Polina Edmunds were featured in the championship ladies short program. 

Place	Individual	Score
1	Ashley Wagner	72.04
2	Gracie Gold	67.02
3	Polina Edmunds	66.04
4	Mirai Nagasu	65.28
5	Courtney Hicks	65.01

It was Wagner, the seventh-place finisher from Sochi, who stole the show. Attempting—and landing, albeit on two feet—the triple lutz-triple toe loop combination for the first time in competition, she finished with a score of 72.04. It was not only a personal best, but nearly a national record, per the IceNetwork's Twitter feed:

"I think that it is one of the steppingstones along the way to becoming one of the top ladies internationally," Wagner said of the move, per Cohen.

Gold and Edmunds appear set for a battle for silver during the free skate on Saturday. Gold, who missed the same triple-triple move, finished over five points behind Wagner with a 67.02, while the 16-year-old Edmunds is just behind the defending American champ at 66.04. 

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