Timothy Goebel is but a youngster, only...

CLEVELAND —  Timothy Goebel is but a youngster, only 19, still a green underclassman when it comes to this odd exercise on ice that is more a political science than a sport.

So you can only smile when he enthusiastically describes his aggressive skating style: “In skating, you can’t defend the castle. You have to attack it.”

Of course, you can defend the castle. You can make it impenetrable, invulnerable, immune to any approach, no matter how noble, provided you sit at the judges’ table--also known in figure skating as the Moat Around The Status Quo.

Thursday night at Gund Arena, Goebel received a hard lesson in siege strategy during the men’s short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Goebel skated more assertively and more proficiently than Michael Weiss, but because Weiss is the reigning national champion, the judges kept Goebel in his place--which, as they have evidently determined, is second.

Both Goebel and Weiss were scheduled to attempt quadruple jumps in their short programs. Goebel gamely went for his, completing the four rotations but stepping out of the landing; Weiss played it safe and instead of a quad, settled for a triple toe loop.

Both Goebel and Weiss scuffled on their triple axel-triple toe combinations. Goebel struggled to save the axel but once he did, he launched and completed the second triple jump. Weiss also had to work to save his axel--nearly putting a hand to the ice to brace himself--but then managed only a double toe on the back end of the combination.

Weiss came away with some of the lowest technical scores a defending champion has ever seen at the U.S. championships--one mark of 5.0, another of 5.3. But the judges propped him up with surprisingly high presentation scores--a 5.9, two 5.8s.

All told, five of the nine judges scored Weiss higher than Goebel.

But then, Weiss has the hardware and the reputation. He was, after all, third at the 1999 World Championships.

To the judges, Goebel remains “Kid Quad”--still precocious, still underdeveloped, still the challenger.

When Goebel’s coach, Carol Heiss Jenkins, was asked about the marks, she rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air.

“You know what? I’m at the point where . . . where I just can’t make a comment,” she said, fighting to remain diplomatic. “I was surprised at the marks. I just don’t know. I don’t understand.

“I guess the longer I’m in this sport, the more confused I am. I’ve been in this sport 56 years and it’s like, ‘Oh, I think I’ve got all the answers,’ but now I’m more confused than ever.”

Goebel simply shrugged and attributed his conservative marks to the fact he skated early in the session--fifth out of 16 skaters, five slots ahead of Weiss.

“They had a lot of skaters after me,” Goebel said. “They had to leave room [in the rankings] for them.”

Weiss isn’t that far removed from the role Goebel now finds himself in. For years, Weiss was the underscored challenger, looking up then at five-time U.S. champion Todd Eldredge.

So when he was asked about Thursday’s scores, Weiss smiled and replied, “You can’t be surprised to any mark in this sport. I’ve seen all kinds of marks.”

Weiss said he was “happy” with his program, though conceded that “I wish I had that quad back.” Weiss said he scrapped the idea as soon as he found himself too close to the boards as he completed the crossover footwork that leads into the jump.

“When I saw how close I was to the boards, it threw my rhythm off,” Weiss said.

Weiss and Goebel, who stand 1-2 ahead of third-place Matt Savoie, will resume their joust during Saturday’s long program. Goebel has three quads planned, Weiss one. No skater has cleanly performed a quad at the U.S. championships.

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Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev retained their national ice dance championship. Lang and Tchernyshev placed first in Thursday’s free dance, exactly as they did in both rounds of Tuesday’s compulsory dance and again in Wednesday’s original dance. Second place went to Jamie Silverstein and Justin Pekarek. The top two dance teams will represent the United States at next month’s world championships in Nice, France.