The scoring was all over the place! What the heck.
Lu/Mitrofanov completed their elements well, but they don't have great presentation skills. I thought 65 was somewhat high for L/M compared to the 61 for Serafini/Tran, since at least S/F have a more interesting connection and expressiveness. S/F got low-balled skating first in the first group. By not giving S/F a better score, it seems that Pfund/Santillan and Digerness/Neudecker ended up getting stuck behind S/F after their own very good performances that arguably should have been scored higher.
And then Haven & Brandon. Sigh... While I know they tend to have trouble with the jumps, they were really dumped on in the scoring for a team of their quality and talent. Yes, Haven doubled her jumping pass and fell on the first throw. That throw had such height and distance, she seemed to lose control of it with so much air time. But otherwise that's a quality throw. Apparently, Brandon had too much adrenaline pumping. Still, H&B's throws and lifts are top-notch quality, so why dis them so heavily? It's important to skate clean, but let's face it that H&B have much more overall quality and talent as a team than both S/F and L/M. Haven/Brandon also won two medals on the GP and nearly made the GPF. As a quality team, they are on a par with the top U.S. teams and should not have been placed behind S/F and L/M for those two tech mistakes if the rest of their overall skills are taken into account.
It's great for the Knierims pulling through to skate clean. They seemed slightly nervous during the practices. But they picked it up for the sp. Chris was a bit wonky in the air but cat-like on the landing. I hope they can continue to pull off clean programs. They made it through this sp with flying colors. But I didn't feel like it was slam dunk perfection. They struck me as cautious and pacing themselves. Fortunately, they made it through. I'm sure it was a huge relief and they deserved the audience response. Still, I'm skeptical about them receiving 77 for that performance, especially in comparison to the marks given to other teams. It is definitely home-cooking, as they wouldn't get that kind of score internationally unless they proved they could be clean more often than not.
Yes, at their best, the Knierims are probably the U.S.'s best team in terms of power and skill set. Still, H&B also have world quality lifts, excellent 3-twist, great death-spiral and usually excellent throws, in addition to a boffo fp this season. I think that Ashley/Timothy have proven their ability and competitive grit, despite their hiccoughs on the GP. IMO, A&T were rather heavily penalized for Ash's two-foot landing on the throw. I thought A&T should have at least scored 70 or 71. It seemed like their sbs jumps were spot-on. But with that low score, I wonder if they were dinked for a UR? ETA: Okay, I see that A&T got no credit for their death spiral. That's a pretty harsh call by the tech panel, IMHO.
Kayne/O'Shea's new sp really suits them, and they can deliver when they are on. Still, Tara's skating skills need improvement, and their 3-twist is not as good as the Knierims', H&B's, and Calalang/Johnson's. By giving the Knierims a score in the sp out the wazoo, it appears as if the judges very much want to send the Knierims to Worlds. Alexa & Chris have a huge lead which should give them confidence for the fp. Can A&C continue to be consistent?
I would have had H&B just behind L/M by percentage points; the Knierims no higher than 75; K/O at about 71, and Ash/Tim at 70. Also Serafini/Tran at 63 which would mean more room fairly for P/S at 61 or 62 and D/N at 59.
) so I really want them to have a better competition in Greensboro. 
Not that I expect them to finish very high after being out so long, not to mention being new to seniors. I just hope they have two good skates and score decently.
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I personally made no comment about either K/O or C/J in reference to your above post, but since you bring it up...
