Punsalan, Swallow Win Dance Title

SAN JOSE —  In perhaps the most intense rivalry in U.S. figure skating, Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow on Friday night at the San Jose Arena regained the dance title in the national championships that they lost last year to Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur.

Punsalan and Swallow, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., also were the champions in 1991 and ’94. In the latter, they joined a letter-writing campaign to prevent Sur, who defected to the United States from Russia in 1990, from gaining accelerated citizenship in time for the Winter Olympics. The issue became moot when Roca broke her wrist during the ’94 championships, forcing them to withdraw. But she and Sur, who train at Colorado Springs, Colo., still considered it a measure of revenge when they won their second national championship last year. They also won in 1993. This week, however, Punsalan and Swallow took the lead in the second of three phases and held it through Friday night’s free dance.