PHILADELPHIA -- Although a new wave of American ice dancers are having an impact at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this week, one thing isn't changing: the couple at the top.

Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow closed in on their fifth national title Thursday, adding the original dance to their victory in compulsories. They figure to be capture their third straight championship on Saturday in the free dance.

Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow perform during the original dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Thursday in Philadelphia. (AP)

While newcomers Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler, the first Americans to win any world title in dance when they took the junior crown last fall, moved up to second, they don't expect to push Punsalan and Swallow. They'll be happy with a runner-up spot, which almost certainly will land them on the U.S. Olympic team for Nagano.

ONLY THE FIRST-PLACE COUPLE is guaranteed a place on the Olympic squad. But Joseph and Butler have a burgeoning reputation internationally.

"It is not we are chasing them, more like following in their footsteps," Joseph said. "It is an honor."

Punsalan and Swallow, 15th in the 1994 Olympics -- held two weeks after her father was murdered by her brother -- will equal the U.S. record of five crowns if they win this year. Judy Schwomeyer and James Sladky (1968-72) and Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert (1981-85) also did it, but consecutively. Punsalan-Swallow won in 1991, '94 and the last two years.

"Every year is different and difficult," Punsalan said.

She and her husband changed original dances right after the Champions Series in Munich in December. They had only 10 days to work on their new number, to "Rip It Up."

"We got together on Monday, Dec. 22 right after Champions Series and put all the cards on the table," Swallow said. "We decided to make the changes, but it's hard to get the stuff put together in 10 days. "

STANDING THIRD HEADING INTO THE free dance were Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev, but they are ineligible to go because Tchernyshev is not an American citizen.

The same goes for the current fourth-place team, Eve Chalom and Mathew Gates, because Gates is not a U.S. citizen.