For Keauna McLaughlin, there were no tears Friday shortly after her dreadful performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She simply stood next to her partner, Rockne Brubaker, and stewed. 'I'm not going to lie, I'm upset,' McLaughlin said, as if her steely look didn't telegraph that already. 'I went out there and completely just -- I don't even know what happened.' What happened, though, was that McLaughlin and Brubaker -- the two-time defending national champions in the pairs event -- had finished seventh overall in the short program after McLaughlin fell not once, but twice. She tumbled to the ice on a triple Salchow and also crashed down during a death spiral. It was not a good way to start a competition that is critical, though not absolutely necessary, to being named to the Olympic team for the Vancouver Games. After the routine, McLaughlin stood at center ice and gave Brubaker a look of complete shock. 'I think after the mistake on the Sal, things got a little tense,' Brubaker said afterward, explaining the weak performance. 'It's a little frustrating because we've been practicing well.' Going into Saturday's long program, Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, the runners-up at the 2009 national championships, are in the lead, with 63.01 points. Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin are in second, with 62.09. Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig are in third, with a score of 58.76 points. McLaughlin and Brubaker, the 2007 world junior champions, are far back. With 52.55 points, they are more than 10 points out of first and more than 9 out of second. Although McLaughlin and Brubaker struggled, other couples left the ice smiling, including Denney and Barrett. Denney wore red extensions in her short blond hair for the performance, looking perky and positive from start to finish. 'We just let our training take over when we're out there,' she said, as her yellow eye shadow glittered in the lights. Barrett added: 'Today was actually pretty easy.' But the fun for them -- and the toil for others -- isn't over just yet. Every pair has one more chance to shine. The long program will be held Saturday. In the end, more than just a national title and the bragging rights that go with it are at stake. Only two American pairs will make it to the Vancouver Games. A committee from U.S. Figure Skating will meet Monday to pick which ones will go. The criteria used in the selection will be the skaters' performances at these nationals, as well as several events from last year: The Grand Prix Final, the world championships, the Four Continents championships, the world junior championships and the Junior Grand Prix Final. So all is not lost for McLaughlin and Brubaker, who qualified for the 2009 world championships and finished 11th. Denney and Barrett were ninth there. For McLaughlin and Brubaker, moving into the top two on the leader board will not be that simple. After 49 years of coaching and 39 national championships, their coach, John Nicks, knows that -- perhaps more than anyone. Yet he still thinks McLaughlin and Brubaker are able to come from behind. 'They didn't lay down today,' he said. 'They're the best pair out there.' Nicks said they had been practicing well for the past two weeks, as well as any pair he has taught. In that time, he said, McLaughlin has looked sharp, hitting her jumps and skating aggressively. She said she had been seeing a sports psychologist to conquer the mental part of skating, but that in Friday's short program, her fear overcame her. 'I just let my mind take over,' she said. 'I was thinking, 'I hope I don't mess up, I hope I don't mess up,' and that's absolutely not what you're supposed to think.' But Brubaker stood by as she said that, confident that his partner could get it together for Saturday's performance. While McLaughlin stared at the ground, nervously bouncing her right leg, Brubaker shook off their errors. He said that 10 points could be made up by one or two solid elements in their long program. McLaughlin too said she believed they would make a striking comeback. 'I have a fire lit under me,' she said, 'to go out and be aggressive and not go down without a fight.' 