The Associated Press

DALLAS - Even after a dozen years, none of this gets old for Michelle Kwan.

Not the jitters and the nerves, that sickening feeling of her heart being in her throat. And certainly not that wonderful joy that washes over her when her program is finished and the audience is cheering yet another masterful performance.

"It's my 12th nationals, so I should be used to it. But I still have the jitters," she said. "It's like a love-hate relationship."

The love was definitely outweighing the hate Thursday night. With Sasha Cohen and Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes itching to take her title away, Kwan reasserted her dominance with a convincing victory in the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

She leads Cohen and Hughes going into Saturday night's free skate. That's worth two-thirds of the final score, but Kwan's performance Thursday showed that one of them will have to do something pretty special to prevent her from winning her seventh U.S. crown.

"For me it is not all about history," Kwan said. "As a young kid, I wanted to be remembered as a legend - to be remembered period, not so much as a legend. If I compete more and more, it is like, `Remember Me! Remember Me!'

"If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen."

While Kwan took control in the women's event, the other U.S. bronze medalist from Salt Lake City, Tim Goebel, won the men's short program.

The 22-year-old Goebel was somewhat sluggish and a bit untidy in his first major event of the season, but he held off up-and-comers Johnny Weir and Matt Savoie.

"It felt great to be back," Goebel said. "For some strange reason, I like the adrenaline and the nervousness and being out in front of a crowd. This is all about everything I came back for. This is what I enjoy about skating."

Kwan knows exactly how he feels. The dominant skater of her generation, she's won every major title except Olympic gold and is considered the grand damme of figure skating at the ripe old age of 22.

Yet here she is, still racing around the rink and showing the youngsters how it's done. Though she's skated in only one other competition this year - winning Skate America in October as a late replacement for the injured Hughes - she didn't look rusty.

Her triple flip easily was the best of the night, as were her unmatchable spirals. Kwan earned five 5.9s for presentation and had no mark below 5.7.

"Maybe I haven't been in front of the judges, but I've been busy," she said. "It's not like I have been sitting on the couch eating potato chips."

Hughes, who missed the entire Grand Prix series with a leg injury, skated first among the big three and put out a solid if not spectacular routine. Her shaky landing on a triple lutz-double toe loop combination cost her slightly, as did a dip on her triple flip landing.

"The short program is a lot more difficult than the one I did last year," she said. "It's a lot harder the way it is set up. The connecting steps are more difficult, and if you make one little mistake, it really shows."

But remember, she was just fourth after the short program at Salt Lake City.

"For the point I am at now," she said, "I couldn't be happier."

Cohen was happy to be in second, though not thrilled with her performance. She's been on a roll recently, winning three of her last four competitions, but that came to an abrupt stop Thursday.

She two-footed the landing on her combination jump and lacked spark in what normally is a sizzling routine to "Malaguena." The judges liked her style, however, and placed her second.

"I didn't skate perfectly for myself," she said. "Top three, I'm happy with that because the long is what matters now."

Goebel didn't have his usual flair, either, but that's to be expected in his first competition of the year. The 2001 national champion turned his planned quadruple-triple combination into a quad salchow-double toe, and also made a slight turn out of his triple axel.

His footwork was improved, but slow. But his triple flip was solid and he had some nice, tight spins toward the end of his 2-minute, 40-second program to "Romeo and Juliet."

"It felt great to be back," Goebel said. "For some strange reason, I like the adrenaline and the nervousness and being out in front of a crowd. This is all about everything I came back for. This is what I enjoy about skating."

Two-time national champion Michael Weiss didn't enjoy being fourth, thinking he deserved to be two spots higher. But he couldn't land a triple axel, falling to his knees after just 21/2 revolutions. He also barely touched down with two feet on his quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe.

"I thought that would have been good enough to be in second," an annoyed Weiss said. "Some of the programs people are doing is stuff we were doing in juniors."

Year layoff wears on Hughes