DALLAS — Rena Inoue had five stitches in her left knee, souvenir of a crash into the boards while landing a throw triple loop, and a grimace on her face. But after a series of terrible and often terrifying performances scrambled the standings Friday, she and her partner, John Baldwin Jr., had a bronze medal at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and a berth at the World Championships. That made the Santa Monica couple's pain more bearable.
"I don't think we're going to let this keep us away," said Baldwin, who competed in singles for 14 years before teaming with Inoue in 2001. "We had to expect a miracle for this to happen. I'm not religious but I'll think about becoming religious."
Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn of Newark, Del., won their first U.S. title despite several major mistakes. Kathryn Orscher and Garrett Lucash moved up from fourth to second, and Inoue and Baldwin rose from fifth to third. Stephanie Kalesavich and Aaron Parchem dropped from second to fifth.
Inoue, 26, and Baldwin, 29, train at Aliso Viejo and Paramount. Baldwin began his skating career around the time the couple's coach, Jill Watson, won the 1988 Olympic pairs bronze medal with Peter Oppegard.
