“I’m happy with how I skated tonight,” Tennell said. “It was super fun to get back out there on championship ice. There is nothing quite like it and I am happy with how I performed. I was super confident coming into tonight. I practiced hard for this and I know how hard I trained. I love these programs, so I am excited to share them with everybody.”
Alysa Liu thrilled the crowd with a 73.89-point short program in her senior debut. Liu, who is just 13, skated in the first group and led for half of the competition.
“I was happy that I did my triple Axel in the short because it’s [U.S. Championships],” Liu said. “I was so happy that I did everything I wanted to do. I was a little nervous, but I was just so excited to be here.”
Mariah Bell is in third place with 70.30 points.
In the pairs event, Tarah Kayne and Danny O’Shea, who took the U.S. title in 2016, were atop the short program leaderboard with 71.83 points.
“So many times throughout my career I didn't think I would get back to this place because I keep getting injured and it just seemed like I couldn't catch a break,” Kayne said. “So it means the world to me to be sitting here talking about how well this went.”
The pair relocated to Colorado Springs prior to this season to be closer to the Olympic Training Center and its rehabilitation facilities.
Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc are second with 70.47 points, and Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier, the 2017 U.S. champions, are third with 68.32 points.
The ladies competition will wrap up with the free skate on Friday night while the pairs competition will conclude on Saturday night with the pairs free skate.
