2002 U.S. FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS NOTEBOOK: FALLS GIVE LIANG RESOLVE.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

There was a large margin for error for Beatrisa Liang, the youngest competitor in the championship ladies' portion of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but not quite enough to leave Liang or coach Tiffany Chin satisfied Saturday night.

Liang, a 13-year-old native of Granada Hills who also trains in Simi Valley, fell on three of her elements in Saturday's long program at Staples Center and finished ninth overall. She was seventh after the short program and finished sixth overall at last year's nationals.

``I think there's obviously some things we need to work on,'' Chin said after Liang earned marks ranging from 4.7 to 5.1 for technical merit and 4.7 to 5.2 for presentation. ``She will be working a lot harder. This was clearly not her best.''

Most pressing seemed to be Liang's stamina. She started strong with a triple lutz/double toe loop combination but fell on the second part of her triple toe loop/triple toe loop combination, which seemed to send the program downhill.

Liang couldn't get all the way around on a triple lutz and fell trying to stretch a double axel into a triple on her final jump of the program. Afterward, there were no tears, just a determination to get better over the next year.

``Every time I come to nationals, I feel a little more confident,'' Liang said. ``I learn from every experience, and I felt more confident this year because last year was my first time at the senior level.''

--They love L.A.: This week's nationals set an all-time record for total attendance (measured by tickets distributed) at 125,345. Saturday's free skate drew 18,035, the largest crowd since 19,082 watched the ladies' free skate in Philadelphia in 1998.

The total attendance record was broken for the third consecutive year. Last year's nationals in Boston drew 124,372, and Cleveland drew 119,044 in 2000. This week's numbers include all tickets distributed for events both at Staples Center and the Sports Arena.

Staples Center spokesperson Michael Roth said the strong attendance should boost the arena's attempt to land the World Figure Skating Championships in a few years.

``That's the type of event we feel this building was built for,'' he said. ``That's the next logical step.''

--Double duty: No competitor was busier this week than Molly Beth Quigley of Nashville, Tenn., who skated in both the championship ladies' competition and the championship pairs' competition.

Quigley finished seventh in the pairs with partner Bert Cording on Friday and finished 14th in singles Saturday. She competed on four consecutive days, including the pairs' short program Wednesday and the ladies' short program Thursday.

--Meet the champ: Novice ladies' champion Danielle Kahle of Thousand Oaks will participate in today's exhibition and skate to the '80s pop hit ``Walking on Sunshine.'' ...

Todd Eldredge, who won the championship men's competition Friday, and coach Richard Callaghan will host a clinic with 50 young skating fans Monday at the Pickwick Ice Center in Burbank. The fans were selected as part of a sweepstakes held in connection with this week's nationals.

TV SCHEDULE

TODAY

--2-5 p.m., Ch. 7, ladies short program, pairs long program, ladies long program (tape)

JAN. 20

--2-3 p.m., Ch. 7, dance long program (tape)

CAPTION(S):

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TV SCHEDULE (see text)