Joan Cristobal of San Jose, Calif., who was only fifth in last year's novice event, won the US junior ladies title yesterday, finishing ahead of Alissa Czisny, who climbed out of fifth to take the silver medal.
''I saw my marks and I said, `Oh my God, I did it,''' said the 15-year-old Cristobal, who finished second in the long program after winning the short. ''I reached my goal.''
Colette Irving of Winchester and the Skating Club of Boston, last year's novice titlist, finished fourth behind Lindsey Weber, with clubmate Louann Donovan of Medford sixth.
''I'm happy with how I placed,'' said the 16-year-old Irving, who was third after the short. ''It's definitely a big step up from novice. It was good to get through it. ''
True rhapsody
Alicia Cavanaugh came off the ice smiling after wrapping up her first appearance at nationals. Just a week shy of her 21st birthday, the East Longmeadow skating teacher performed a solid long program to ''Cornish Rhapsody'' in front of about a dozen of her admiring students and countless family and friends. She finished 12th. ''I think I would have been more nervous if it had been somewhere else,'' she said. ''I knew where my parents, sister, and brother were sitting and I got to [throw] them a kiss.''
After doubling an early triple loop, Cavanaugh landed her jumps smoothly until two-footing one near the end - with elegant, sophisticated spins before and after. While allowing that she could have skated ''a tiny bit better,'' she said she was happy with her performance and especially pleased that so many of her students from the New England Sports Center in Marlborough were at the FleetCenter to see her.
She got to see herself, too. ''In the beginning of the week, I was afraid the big Jumbotron was going to distract me, but at one point in my long program I looked up and saw me skating there,'' she said. ''But it was kind of cool. It just distracted me from being nervous.''
The ice pack
Not counting the walk-up sales for yesterday's finals and this afternoon's exhibition, total attendance for the championships was nearly 122,000, roughly 3,000 more than the record set at Cleveland's Gund Arena last year. Given the success of the event, local organizers probably will bid for either the 2007 Nationals or 2008 Worlds. The US Championships have already been awarded through 2004 and won't rotate to an Eastern city for another three years after that. And since Washington is hosting the 2003 Worlds, they're unlikely to return to a US city for at least five years ... Rough start but encouraging finish yesterday for Joshua Figurido of Gloucester, who ended up 14th in the men's event in his senior debut. ''I'm glad it's over,'' said the 20-year-old Figurido, who competes for the Skating Club of Boston. What does Figurido need to move up to the top 10 next year? ''I need a quad,'' he said. ''And a triple axel.'' ... Frank Carroll, who coaches both Michelle Kwan and Tim Goebel, said he hasn't had to do much juggling to accommodate them at their rink in El Segundo, Calif. ''They don't skate a lot at the same time,'' he said. ''They only have one session together. Michelle goes first, Tim goes second. So they're not vying for my time. And I think it's helped Tim because Michelle is the consummate disciplined athlete. I've seen her fall flat and get up and not miss a beat. Tim's seen that and it's a good thing for him to be around.''
Barbara Huebner of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
