ICE DANCING

SCHEDULE

* Compulsory dance, 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Staples Center (two compulsory dances, each worth 10% of the final score).

* Original dance, 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Staples Center (worth 30% of the final score).

* Free dance, noon Saturday, Staples Center (worth 50% of the final score).

The U.S. can send two ice-dancing couples to the Salt Lake City Winter Games.

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FAVORITES

NAOMI LANG

Allegan, Mich.

and PETER TCHERNYSHEV

St. Petersburg, Russia

* Lang and Tchernyshev are three-time defending U.S. champions who finished ninth at the 2001 World Championships. Tchernyshev, who received his U.S. citizenship last year, making the couple Olympic-eligible, appears recovered from a case of shin splints.

TANITH BELBIN

Kingston, Canada

and BENJAMIN AGOSTO

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

* Runners-up at the 2001 World Junior Championships and U.S. nationals, Belbin and Agosto finished fifth this fall at the Goodwill Games and Skate America. However, because Belbin is still a Canadian citizen, the couple will not be eligible for the U.S. Olympic team.

JESSICA JOSEPH

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

and BRANDON FORSYTH

Lexington, Mass.

* Joseph and Forsyth previously skated with other partners before joining to finish third at last year’s U.S. championships. Joseph and Charles Butler qualified for the 1998 Olympics, finishing 21st after winning a world junior title.

BEATA HANDRA

San Rafael

and CHARLES SINEK

Lexington, Mass.

* Fourth-place finishers at the 2000 and 2001 U.S. championships, Handra and Sinek are the only married couple competing for the U.S. They were sixth at the 2001 Four Continents Championships.

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THE REST

* KAKANI and IKAIKA YOUNG, Oregon City, Ore.

* LIA NITAKE, Minneapolis, and IAN ROSS-FRYE, Atlanta

* LAURA and LUKE MUNANA, Oakley, Calif.

* CERISE HENZES, Pittsburgh, and RIO FOSTER, Mount Vernon, Pa.

* MELISSA GREGORY, Colorado Springs, Colo., and DENIS PETUKHOV, Skokie, Ill.

* CRYSTAL BECKERDITE, San Jose, and RAPHAEL KELLING, Colorado Springs, Colo.

* KIMBERLY NAVARRO, Santa Rosa, Calif., and ROBERT SHMALO, Cincinnati

* TIFFANY HYDEN, Long Beach, and VAZGEN AZROYAN, Odessa, Ukraine

* CAITLIN OBREMSKI, Clifton, Va., and JONATHAN MAGALNICK, Phoenix

* ANNIE YANG, Los Angeles, and WALTER LANG, Norwell, Mass.