Taylor makes a stand in U.S. championships

Until this week, the highlight of Katy Taylor’s season was getting through a program without a fall.

That happened only once in the four programs Taylor skated at her two Grand Prix events last fall. Rarely has a good skater performed so poorly and looked so pathetic on the ice as Taylor did in finishing 11th of 11 at Skate America and 12th of 12 at Skate Canada.

“That was my evil twin,” Taylor said.

The good twin, the one who had looked like one of the sport’s rising stars, returned in Thursday night’s short program at the U.S. championships.

Taylor, so small even her mother calls her “Peanut,” regained most of her old skating stature with a solid, error-free performance that earned a personal best score and left her fourth going into today’s free skate. She is less than four points away from third place, a finish that probably would earn her a spot on the 2007 world team.

Reigning world champion Kimmie Meissner took the lead, as expected. The scramble below her, among a group of women without clearly established credentials, was as unpredictable as expected.

Bebe Liang of Granada Hills, the erstwhile phenom who finished sixth in the 2001 nationals at age 12 but has yet to qualify for a world meet, has a chance for the second year in a row.

Liang, now 18 and a freshman at Santa Monica College, is in second place, 3.03 points behind Meissner and .34 of a point ahead of 2006 Olympian Emily Hughes. Last season, Liang was third after the short program but stumbled to eighth in the free skate and wound up fifth.

“When I was young, I didn’t realize how much effort it took to be on top,” Liang said. “I took too much for granted and didn’t know how much I wanted it.

“The experience gathered in all my years competing helped me to focus my training more this year.”

Taylor, 17, of Houston, had been Meissner’s closest rival on the U.S. junior level. She was second to Meissner at the 2004 junior nationals and third to Meissner’s second at the 2004 junior worlds.

Meissner, 17, took a big leap ahead in 2005 when she landed a triple axel and finished third in her senior national debut, where Taylor was ninth in her debut.

Taylor rallied from a poor short program at the 2006 nationals to finish third in the free skate and fourth overall. Two weeks later, she won the Four Continents Championship.

Then came this season’s two Grand Prix events, when it was painful to watch her stagger around the rink. She lay on the ice so long after one of her falls -- more stunned than hurt -- it seemed as if she might never get back up, literally and figuratively.

“I love the sport too much to quit,” said the 5-foot-1 Taylor. “At the Grand Prix, there were too many negative things around me. If I hadn’t gone through what I did at the Grand Prix, I wouldn’t be the skater I am today.”

In early November, Taylor changed almost everything about herself and her skating.

She began a training program that emphasized more cardiovascular work. She moved from a public school to an extended studies program that concentrates schooling on weekends, when she is not training. She rested more and ate a better diet. She watched video of herself as a carefree young skater and was reminded of how much she could enjoy skating.

“I really feel I’m back,” Taylor said. “I’m in the best shape of my life right now.

“I’m sure some people were saying [what I did] at Four Continents and nationals last year was a fluke. That made me say, ‘Wait until you see me at this nationals.’ ”

Meissner was in a bit of the same position. Subpar performances in short programs at her two Grand Prix events this season made her the first reigning world champion who failed to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.

“The short program makes me nervous,” Meissner said. “The long program is more my area. After this short program, I feel a lot better.”

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Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski won their first U.S. pairs title, surging past defending champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin of Santa Monica with an innovative and solid performance.

Naomi Nari Nam and Themi Leftheris dropped to a distant third after missing both throws.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Philip Hersh covers the Olympics for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.