Looks like Rachael Flatt easily won Golden West, per Jennifer Kirk's True/Slant blog. And I am very excited about the short program, because:
In the past, Flatt hasn’t been the most exciting skater, and while I respect her ability to skate cleanly under pressure, her performances have generally left me feeling underwhelmed. However, after her short program on Saturday my opinion of her skating changed, and her new program set to "Sing! Sing! Sing!" really sings, captures her personality beautifully, and shows a new, fun side to her skating.
Unfortunately, Kirk says that the personality and crowd engagement did not transfer to the long program. Ugh! I hope Flatt does something about that before Grand Prix and Nationals.
Kirk also says that Mirai Nagasu has noticeably improved since moving to Frank Carroll and Ken Congemi. It's hard to go wrong moving to Frank Carroll as your coach. Kirk said Nagasu still made mistakes, though.
As for Caroline Zhang, Kirk confirms that Zhang went back to her old coach, Mingzhu Li, after leaving him for Nagasu's old coach, Charlene Wong. She also states that Zhang was injured over the summer and did not show any technical improvement.