Castile, Okolski steal show with upset win

Experience is usually the difference at competitions such as the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships.

Other times skaters have the moment of their competitive lives and throw that conventional wisdom out the window.

That’s what happened Friday afternoon in the Senior Pairs event at the Arena in front a crowd of 9,250.

In the biggest upset of the event, relative unknowns Brooke Castile and Benjamin Okolski knocked off defending champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin by the narrowest of margins.

Skating third from last, the Michigan-based pair skated a flawless program that included a well-executed split triple twist – a difficult element – on their way to an impressive score of 178.40 just before Inoue and Baldwin took the ice to defend their title.

Castile and Okolski didn’t even win their sectionals in qualifying for their third nationals, finishing eighth last year and seventh in 2005. They drew a standing ovation with their performance, skated to a song from the “Requiem for a Dream” soundtrack.

They soaked up the moment, taking a victory lap before waiting for their scores. They shattered their personal-best marks by more than 30 points and came off the ice as the leaders with just three pairs left.

Then, as they entered the post-skate interview area with reporters, they nervously watched for the scores of the defending champs out of the corners of their eyes. After stating they were glad to just “skate their best,” they saw Inoue and Baldwin’s scores on the TV monitor.

“Oh my God,” said Castile, her knees slightly buckling as her partner made another good catch of her. They briefly held each other in joy, then answered a new set of questions about the possibility that they might just win.

“After we skated, it was out of our control, there’s nothing we could do about how everyone skated or how the judges judged,” said Okolski, 22.

“We did our job, it feels great,” said Castille, 20.

Afterward, they explained that they executed a game plan from coach Johnny Johns which started last March. Having carried it out since that time, they said they felt prepared and confident they could be on the podium.

Inoue and Baldwin struggled in a performance which still yielded them their fifth national medal.

“We’ve been through so much this year and it’s been a really demanding year and demanding season,” said Baldwin, intimating he was satisfied with the finish.

The pair had two uncharacteristic falls (one by each) which cost 2.0 in deductions and fell just short of successfully defending their title with a score of 178.15.

“Definitely today, it wasn’t our day. We’ve got to accept it,” said Inoue.

Both teams will represent the United States in the world championships, but the third-place team of Naomi Nari Nam and Themi Leftheris won’t be going.

The U.S. gets only two berths to this year’s event because of the fact it fared poorly in the event at the Olympics and didn’t earn enough team points for the maximum three spots.

Nam and Leftheris skated last, right after Inoue and Baldwin, and entered the free skate in second place ahead of the eventual winners.

The window of opportunity was open for them to claim the title from the reigning champs, but saw it shut in their faces.

Nam twice was unable to land throws by her partner. Regardless, they finished well behind the top teams at 168.49.

“We had been skating great leading up – clean practices and all,” said Leftheris.