PORTLAND, Oregon, 14 January 2005 — Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto consolidated their ice dance lead at the US Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday with an outstanding original dance, while Kathryn Orscher and Garrett Lucash grabbed the pairs lead after the short program.
Belbin and Agosto, who led after the opening compulsory dance on Tuesday, earned four perfect marks for presentation in the second phase of the dance competition.
“We had a really great time out there today,” Belbin said. “There’s something about the original dance at nationals that we always really enjoy. Our goal today was just to perform this program as far as it could go, and I think that we achieved that. Obviously the 6.0s were so incredible to receive. We feel great about our skating.” The recent Grand Prix final silver medalists delighted the crowd with their “Cabaret” routine. As in the compulsory dance, Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov placed second, this time with their program from “Chicago.” Lydia Manon and Ryan O’Meara were third in the original dance, improving to third overall and putting themselves in position for a podium placing.
