The ice dance events concluded Saturday afternoon at the Quicken Loans Arena with the senior free dance. The first five competitors competed at 1:05 p.m., while the remainder took the ice at 4:15 p.m. for the live television broadcast. Jennifer Wester & Daniil Barantsev were forced to withdraw from the event due to Daniil's back injury.
Meryl Davis & Charlie White earned a standing ovation and their first U.S championship with an elegant and enchanting performance to "Mon Coeur s'Ouvre a ta Voi" and "Bacchanale" from Samson and Dalila by Camille Saint-Saens. Davis & White had the audience in the palm of their hands from the moment they took the ice, and everything from the lifts to transitions to choreography matched the mood and magnified the performance, bringing those in attendance to their feet at the end.
"We went out there hoping to give the whole package today and I think we accomplished that," White said. "We were able to perform technically, and I felt like we really expressed the program as well, which is something that we've been working on."
Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates moved up two steps from their pewter medal finish last year to claim the silver. Performing to "Amazonic" by Tonci Huljic, Samuelson & Bates received level 4 on all of their lifts, but their spin was downgraded to level 1 and received negative GOEs.
"I'm really happy with how we performed," Bates said. We had one mistake on one element, but the rest of it was really good. I think being last out of the warm-up was a challenge for us, but we still were able to go out there and be pretty comfortable."
Claiming their second consecutive bronze medal, Kimberly Navarro & Brent Bommentre presented a fun and energetic number to music by Fat Boy Slim.
"I thought we skated great," Bommentre said. "To come out first in the warm-up is always a tough thing to do. It makes you a little more nervous, but I thought that we handled it well. We really focused on putting it all out there for the performance."
The team's program went through a metamorphosis between NHK Trophy and its performance here. During this time, they worked with Alexandr Kirsanov to make changes to the step sequences and transitions and with former U.S. pairs champions Tiffany Scott & Philip Dulebohn on lifts and spins.
"We had a lot of hands in the program," Navarro said.
"We really took a hard look at the program and what we could do to make it a better program," Bommentre said. "We had about seven weeks, and we changed a whole bunch of stuff. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago that things started falling into place. I'm really proud of the way that we worked and went into this competition."
Siblings Madison Hubbell & Keiffer Hubbell earned their first senior medal with their program to "Sognami" by Alessandro Safina. The program featured several of the team's signature moves, including the "Romeo & Juliet," a low-to-the-ice hydroblade-type move where Madison leans on Keiffer. The team received no negative GOEs for their elements and their twizzles, spin, and all but one lift were all level 4. Both step sequences were level 3.
Jane Summersett & Todd Gilles dropped to sixth in the free dance and sixth overall with a theatrical performance to "La Strada Suite" by Nino Rota. A mistake on the twizzles caused the element to be downgraded and it received seven -1 GOEs and two -2s.
Morgan Matthews & Leif Gislason pulled up to fifth overall with a fifth-place free dance. The team's avant-garde program to "The Muse" had several innovative lifts which all received level 4.
At the press conference, all three teams were in agreement about one thing: the absence of Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto from the national championships was felt by everyone.
"We all wish Tanith & Ben a speedy recovery," Davis said. "They've been a staple in U.S. skating for so many years, and they've done so much for our sport and so much specifically for ice dance in the U.S. We really miss them here."
