March 6, 2010

MINNEAPOLIS--Miami University's senior synchronized skating team sits in third place after Friday's short program, while the junior team finished in fifth place overall at the U.S. National Championships.

Skating their short program to Romeo and Juliette, the RedHawk senior team posted a score of 73.63 and is a mere 0.23 behind the second-place Crystallettes (73.86). Miami had a clean skate and recorded a technical element score of 43.06 and a program component score of 30.57

The Haydenettes lead the senior team field heading into Saturday's free skate with a short program score of 85.92. Miami holds a 15-point lead on the fourth-place Starlights (58.59), who are followed by Evolution (58.13), ICE'Kateers (56.04), Western Michigan (54.78) and California Gold (54.02).

Miami's senior team concludes its stint at the U.S. National Championships with Saturday's free skate competition, which takes place at approximately 9:15 p.m. (ET). Miami's collegiate team, the five-time defending national champion, also is in action on Saturday and will compete at approximately 6:15 p.m.

Live scoring of the event is available on icenetwork.com.

Despite a sixth-place finish in the free skate, Miami's junior team finished in fifth place overall. Team Braemar placed first in the free skate and won the junior national title with a final score of 195.26. Skyliners finished second (185.62), followed by Lexettes (181.19), Chicago Jazz (174.27), Miami (153.58), Hockettes (141.24), Team Excel (133.58), Synchronettes (124.23), Windjammers (105.51) and Precisely Right (98.27).

The RedHawk junior team posted a score of 89.06 in the free skate competition with a technical element score of 47.36 and a program component score of 42.70. The RedHawks were edged by just under a point by the fifth-place Hockettes (90.28) and finished ahead of seventh-place Team Excel (85.77). On Thursday, the RedHawks placed fifth in the short program with a score of 64.52.