Feb. 23, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Miami University senior and junior synchronized skating teams opened up competition Thursday at the United States Synchronized Skating National Championships at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. After the short program, the senior team sits in second place, 1.84 points behind the Haydenettes, while the junior team is in sixth place.

The senior team, making its first appearance since winning the free skate over the reigning World champions and finishing as the silver medalists at the 2007 Spring Cup, posted the highest program component score (29.36), but trailed the Haydenettes by 2.5 points in the block element.

"I thought the girls did a really good job," head coach Vicki Korn said. "A couple little bobbles, and we can't have those."

The junior team, in its first U.S. National Championship appearance, scored a 51.00 in its short program and trails the first-place Skyliners by 5.54 points. The Skyliners (56.54) are followed by the Colonials (56.47) and Hockettes (55.10).

The junior team competes again tomorrow, performing its free skate program, while the senior team has the day off before skating for its second straight U.S. title on Saturday.

Fans interested in following all of the action with live streaming video and stats can do so by going to www.usfigureskating.org.