CLEVELAND — Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett made the most of their debut at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, pulling off a huge upset by beating defending champs Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker and veterans Rena Inoue and John Baldwin in the short program today.

Denney and Barrett, who skated together briefly two years ago and only reunited in June, earned 61.51 points for a flawless program Thursday. McLaughlin and Brubaker had 61.12 despite two noticeable errors, putting them a mere hundredth of a point ahead of Inoue and Baldwin.

The free skate is Saturday, and because the top three couples are so close, it's winner takes all.