by Anne Calder | Photos by Daphne Backman

The 2025 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships were held at the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas from January 21-26.

For the second season in a row, the top five novice ice dance teams at the Ice Dance Final qualified to compete at the Championships.

The teams danced the Westminster Waltz and Tango patterns on Tuesday, followed by a Free Dance the next day.

Grace Fischer & Luke Fischer (46.34) placed first in both patterns and topped the leader board at the end of the first day, They were followed by Marian Carhart & Denis Bledsoe (45.34), Sophia Feige & Wiles Middlekauff (43.39), Annie Huang & Simon Mintz (40.40), Clara Fugate & Warren Fugate (38.63).

After the Free Dance, the Novice podium included: Marian Carhart & Denis Bledsoe (gold), Grace Fischer & Luke Fischer (silver), Sophia Feige & Wiles Middlekauff (bronze) and Clara Fugate & Warren Fugate (pewter).

IDC spoke with the teams after their Free Dance.

Marian Carhart thought it was a great opportunity to skate her program especially since she had never been in an arena this big. Denis Bledsoe thought skating in the big arena was cool!

Grace Fischer is used to competing in a space that’s not not so big where she is eye level [with the audience]. “Today, I worked at performing to everybody way up there.” Luke Fischer thought it was a great experience and is grateful to skate at Nationals.

Sophia Feige really enjoyed the whole experience. Wiles Middlekauff was thinking going into Nationals that it was just another competition. “When I got here I thought, maybe this is a little bit more than an ordinary competition.”

Clara Fugate & Warren Fugate qualified for the 2024 Championships as a Novice team. Warren said that the experience helped them this time because they knew what to expect. Clara added that she felt calmer this year. “Last year was like life or death. If you screw up, you’re going to die. This year, not so much”.

Novice Ice Chips:

Marian Carhart & Denis Bledsoe’s 2024-2025 music to Czárdás was their first time skating a folk dance.

Sophia Feige & Wiles Middlekauff who partnered in April 2024 will move to juniors for the 2025-2026 season.

Annie Huang & Simon Mintz (pictured, right) have been partners since September 2023 and train in Boxboro and Marlboro, MA.

Clara Fugate & Warren Fugate are twins who will move to juniors for the 2025-2026 season.

Grace Fischer & Luke Fischer moved from Colorado Springs, CO to Novi, MI six months ago to train with Igor Sphilband’s team. Katherine Hill & Ben Agosto, the team’s first coaches, continue to occasionally work with them, mostly at competitions. The siblings are inspired by watching their new older team mates do moves they are learning. The interaction with the more experienced dancers has enhanced their training sessions.