FIGURE SKATING U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS : Yamaguchi Gets More Ice Time Than Zamboni

Kristi Yamaguchi was out of bed to make the trip to Bountiful at 8 a.m., which must have seemed like sleeping in to her considering that she often is on the ice for practice by 5 a.m. No, it wasn’t the starting time Wednesday that gave Yamaguchi that iron-poor blood look. It was the stopping time.

After becoming the first woman since Margaret Graham in 1953 to win medals in both singles and pairs at the national figure skating championships last year in Baltimore, Yamaguchi, 18, was advised by some well-meaning people within the sport to give up one or the other before she burned out. Not only did she not listen, it’s a wonder she didn’t start looking for a dance partner.

“She might look meek, but she has a mind of her own,” said her singles coach, Christy Kjarsgaard Ness. “Don’t let the quiet ones fool you.”

So Yamaguchi, from Fremont, Calif., has no one but herself to blame for the schedule Wednesday at the national championships.

From 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., she was at the Bountiful Ice Rink for the singles compulsory figures. That meant she had to miss her scheduled pairs workout with partner Rudi Galindo of San Jose. Under the circumstances, the U.S. Figure Skating Federation made a concession, allowing them to practice immediately after the figures.

After that workout, she began another for singles. A few hours later, she went to the Salt Palace for the opening phase of the pairs competition, the original program.

“She can only endure this sort of nightmarish schedule because she has such great talent,” said John Nicks, who has worked periodically with Yamaguchi and Galindo since the death of their pairs coach, Jim Hulick, in December.

As expected, they won the original program. In second place, however, was the unexpected pair of Natasha Kuchiki of Canoga Park and Todd Sand of Thousand Oaks. Even if Kuchiki and Sand finish among the top three, they will not go to the World Championships next month in Halifax, Canada, because Kuchiki is only 13. Sharon Carz of Playa del Rey and Doug Williams of Los Angeles were third.

Earlier, Yamaguchi finished fifth in the singles compulsory figures, a significant improvement over her eighth-place finish a year ago. With a skating style that belies her small body (4-foot, 11 inches, 82 pounds), she managed to finish second overall to Jill Trenary.

A two-time champion, Trenary, 21, was first in the figures Wednesday. She said afterward she is more prepared mentally this year for a challenge from Yamaguchi. A clear favorite last year, Trenary left a news conference in tears after she won the championship because so much media attention was devoted to the ingenue.

This year, Yamaguchi has a different role as a contender. But if there is more pressure, she doesn’t acknowledge it.

“She’s detached, almost unemotional,” Nicks said.

Perhaps that was her saving grace last year. After the World Championships in Paris, where she finished fifth in pairs and sixth in singles, her singles coach, Ness, moved to Edmonton.

Yamaguchi commuted between there and her home in the Bay Area, where she worked with Galindo and Hulick. But Hulick, who learned in 1988 that he had cancer, died in December. He was 38.

“That was hard for them at first,” Ness said. “Both of them felt he was always going to be there. When they actually had to deal with his death, it was traumatic.”

Galindo and Yamaguchi spent two weeks in December in Costa Mesa and a week earlier this year in Salt Lake City with Nicks, who was Hulick’s pairs coach when he competed. But they also have spent time without a pairs coach in Edmonton, practicing programs that Hulick gave them.