Wagner seizes Skate America ladies lead

Ashley Wagner, hoping to build on a breakthrough season, seized the lead in the ladies' short programme Saturday at Skate America in Kent, Washington, the first stop in the Grand Prix series. The second day of competition had titles on offer in pairs and men's competition, with Japanese teenager Yuzuru Hanyu vying to follow up his dazzling men's short programme by sealing a first Grand Prix win. The 17-year-old earned 95.07 points for a breathtaking short routine on Friday, the highest score ever recorded for a short programme in competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Early action, however, featured ladies' and ice dance short routines, and Wagner delivered a solid programme to lead the women with 60.61 points. Russia's Adelina Sotnikova was second with 58.93 and American Christina Gao third on 56.63. "The triple loop was not exactly the quality I was looking for," Wagner admitted, but otherwise she had little to regret. "That was my first short program out under the spotlight and the crowd so I'm pleased with how it went." Wagner won the US national title last season and her fourth placed finish at the world championships in March was the best for an american woman since 2007. She also beat Japanese star Mao Asada to win the Four Continents crown. Sotnikova, 16, was less happy after failing to deliver her final jump. "I popped the last jump and it's a jump that I usually never miss," she said. Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White comfortably won the short dance with a total of 71.39 points. The always-elegant Americans put themselves in position for a third consecutive Skate America crown. Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje were second on 65.79 followed by Russians Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev with 62.91.