It was quite an evening. Due to the time lag on the "live" TV coverage, those of us on the West Coast didn't see the event until 3 hours later, so before the ladies began, I checked out the results. Normally I wouldn't do that, but I wanted to find out so I could prepare for writing this post. My reaction - Wow. I love figure skating competitions. You just never know what will happen.

Out of the top ten skaters in the Senior Ladies division at Nationals, at least eight could be major contenders internationally. Unfortunately, we can only send three. Those ranked 6-10 after the Short Program skated in the first group tonight. As Bebe Liang completed her program, I knew the rest of the skaters must have done well. Her program was really good. Not superb, but really good. She came in fifth. I couldn't wait to see the rest skate.

Caroline Zhang, who was in 7th after the Short Program, skated after Liang. She was perfect. Her layback was exquisite, her positions gorgeous, and her jumps high and clean. She received a standing ovation. She earned fourth place with that performance - a skate that would have earned her a higher spot on the podium many years, but not this year. A perfect program and a standing ovation and fourth place. Unbelievable. After that, knowing the results, I could only assume the top three also skated incredible programs.

Rachel Flatt, who took the ice after Kimmie Meissner, completed seven triple jumps including a triple lutz, triple toe-loop combination and a triple flip, double toe-loop, double loop combination along with another triple lutz with a very difficult set-up, giving her even more points. And it wasn't just about the jumps. Her footwork, spiral position, connecting moves, speed and spins were all excellent. She received another standing ovation and when the numbers came up later, won the Free Skate. But not the gold.

Ashley Wagner followed, also with seven triples planned for the first time. She opened with a giant triple lutz, triple loop, followed almost immediately by a double axel. The amount of strength and energy required for that is amazing. And after she finished the last of the jumps, she still looked just as strong as she did at the beginning of the program. Her jumps were all high and strong. Another flawless program and another standing ovation. She scored in second place in both events, but she took the bronze medal. This shouldn't get her down though. She reminds me of Sarah Hughes. I think she's one of those sleeper skaters who could come out a World or Olympic champion in the future.

Mirai Nagasu, the last skater on the ice, leader after the Short Program, reigning Junior U.S. champion, the first time she ever competed with a four minute program, following three standing ovations, came in with a tiny bit of pressure on her. She opened with gorgeous spirals, but then had an odd fall on a double axel. After that, she skated cleanly and because she had such a strong lead after the Short Program, her points carried her through to earn the gold medal. Her overall presentation, her spin positions, and her characterization of her music all played a part as well. She wasn't smiling in the long program like in the short - she clearly knew she had to skate perfectly after that fall. She still earned a standing ovation. After she saw her scores and heard the results, she said, "What?!" Very exciting. According to Scott Hamilton commentating, the last time someone went from Junior champion to Senior champion in one year was 1938. "I'm just happy and without words," Nagasu said on TV.

I was able to connect with this year's Chief Announcer, Robert Richmond, who had what he called "the privilege of announcing the Free Skating Competition." Richmond summarized the field nicely by saying: "There were some interesting surprises in the talent of the younger Senior Ladies." Oddly enough, of the top four skaters at the U.S. Nationals, three can't go to the World Championships because they're too young. In my post about the Short Program, I alluded to this, but I really thought Meissner would pull through for the podium. Flatt missed the cut-off by 20 days, and Nagasu and Zhang are both 14. They must be 16 to go. Instead, they will return to Junior Worlds as veterans.

Most surprising was the finish of Kimmie Meissner, the 2007 national champion. She took 7th place in the Free Skate, nearly 25 points behind Flatt. Overall, she came out 43 points behind Nagasu. This was a result of a fall in the Short as well as three falls on her most major point jumps in the Free Skate. The benefit of the TV time delay for writing this post, however, is that the World team has now been named and Meissner made it due to her past rankings. She, Liang, and Wagner will be going the World Championships March 18-23 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

For those skeptical about the new point system, I want to illustrate something. In this event, in order to name the winner, we had what was very close to a three-way tie, but the point system proved definitively who took what place. Remember the 2002 Olympics that prompted the new judging system? Part of the reason why was the outcome of the ladies' event. Sarah Hughes, Michelle Kwan, and Irina Slutskaya essentially had a three-way-tie and the ordinals broke it. This year, the way the points lined up at Nationals, there was no way to dispute who won. If you want to understand a little better why the placements worked out as they did, here's some information I found about "How the International Judging System Works".

Richmond, who gets one of the best seats in the house explained. "The IJS (International Judging System) has a remarkable amount of technology and areas of redundancy to it that makes the decisions, perhaps much more precise than the audience realizes.  At the risk of using an imprecise example, it is like the referee in the NFL reviewing a challenge for every play.  There are Technical Specialists with vast amounts of skating knowledge and judging experience, and fast video replay technology that is utilized to assist to make, and if need be, review decisions.  The programs are known in advance and can be judged on their execution etc. The level of expertise of the judges and referees is amazing."

In the other categories, McLaughlin & Brubaker won the Pairs event with a phenomenal program aside from one fall, Inoue & Baldwin took the silver (after he proposed on the ice just after their Free Skate), Castile & Okolski the bronze, and Vise & Trent the pewter. In Dance, Belbin & Agosto won their fifth title, Davis & White came in second, Navarro & Bommentre in third with Samuelson & Bates taking fourth.

The men skate tomorrow night, a change from previous years where the ladies always skated last. I'll post about that in the comments here tomorrow night. Meanwhile, congratulations to Mirai Nagasu, Rachel Flatt, Ashley Wagner, Caroline Zhang for their medals best wishes to all the members of the senior and junior world teams.

Sarah Granger, Guest Contributing Editor, won a bronze medal at a U.S. Adult Nationals by skating with a stuffed R2-D2. Find her at Sairy, SFBayStyle & the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.