St. Paul Pioneer Press
Jan 21, 2001

  One missed jump doesn't fell a champion. Michelle Kwan won her fifth national title at the United States Figure Skating Championships on Saturday.
  Kwan doubled an intended triple combination early in her program but covered with an extra triple toe to keep silver medalist Sarah Hughes and bronze medalist Angela Nikodinov from taking her place atop the podium.
  "I knew I needed it, so I snuck it in the very end," Kwan said of the triple toe. "It was difficult making a mistake early."
  The men's world championships team of new US champion Timothy Goebel and Todd Eldredge, a former world champion and five-time national champion, also had to fight back from missed jumps.
  "That's what practice is for," Kwan said. "You train that day in and day out just in case you make a mistake."
  That formula reaped dividends for Arden Hills' Katie Lee and Minneapolis' Danny Clausen, who placed 14th and 11th, respectively.
  Lee landed four triples in Saturday's free skate but had a difficult warmup and fell on several triple salchow attempts.
  "I knew I could trust my training," she said. "The harder you train, the less nervous you have to be.
  "Last year I really didn't skate well," said Lee, who pumped her fist at the end of her skate. "I knew I had it in me. I worked harder this year than I ever have, and I'm glad it paid off."
  To get to the US Championships, skaters have to pass a series of tests and build a resume of local competitions. At that point, only a handful of the nation's 65,000 competitive skaters compete at regionals, and only for from each of the nine regionals advance to one of the three sectionals.
  "The US has the finest skaters in the world," said Kwan's coach, Frank Carroll. This competition is not a walk in the park. There is great, great talent, and the depth is amazing. I've had skaters for who their
whole goal is making it to nationals. That they are among the top 15 in the country is fabulous."
  Having met her goal, Lee, 17, who will graduate from Mounds View High this year, stands at a turning point for many skaters. Unlike Clausen, 23, who graduated from the University of St. Thomas, she has to decide whether she will go to college - she has been accepted to Valparaiso, Purdue, the University of Minnesota, and North Central - or continue to skate.
  "This was my Super Bowl," she said. "I think I played well."
  Lee and Clausen struggled at the 2000 championships and this year landed their expected jumps, something even some world team members failed to do. Goebel, who landed a quadruple salchow and two triple axels, and Eldredge both fell during their free skates.
  The world team skaters will test their drive at the world championships March 18-25 in Vancouver, British Columbia, where their finishes will determine how many spots the United States can bring to the 2002 Olympics.
  "I feel personally responsible with how I skated last year," said Goebel about his 11th-place finish at the 2000 world championships, which limited the United States to two spots this year.