Tennell wins:

Figure skater calls title “indescribable.”

Bradie Tennell’s near-perfect free skate in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at SAP Center in San Jose on Friday night earned her a national title and almost certainly a spot on the U.S. team for next month’s Olympics.

Tennell was spotless in the short program two days earlier, then as the final skater in the long program, she didn’t miss a trick under tremendous pressure. Her top competitors, Mirai Nagasu and Fremont’s Karen Chen, already had put down superb routines.

“I just had to keep calm and focus on what I knew I could do,” Tennell said. “There’s the initial butterflies, but I kind of start to lose myself and keep going. “It’s indescribable to me.” Nagasu, U.S. champ 10 years ago, capped a sensationally sweet comeback with a flowing performance to finish second, virtually assuring a spot in next month’s Olympics — a berth she was denied four years ago by the selection committee. That position for the Sochi Games was given to Ashley Wagner, who had finished fourth, one spot behind Nagasu, but had a better overall record.

Chen, the defending champion, was third and Wagner was fourth on Friday.

The three women headed to the PyeongChang Games in South Korea will be announced Saturday.

After overpowering the entry and two-footing the triple axel that no other American woman tries, Nagasu hit six triple jumps, including a loop in the final seconds of a stirring program. She was so moved by her performance that she broke out in tears and covered her face, trying to gain control of the emotions that often had betrayed her in critical moments.

Nagasu was still crying in, appropriately, the kiss-and-cry area when the marks showed she had shattered her personal best by nearly 20 points with a 213.84.

Chen’s big season last year had not translated into achievement into this one. She put those struggles to an icy death with a superb showing that had one flaw toward the end. She, too, was overcome by tears for a 198.59 score.

Tennell made it a trio of tears with her career best of 219.51. A long shot heading into the season, Tennell announced herself as an Olympic-team threat with a third place at the Skate America competition in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Hardly ice shattering, but she ratcheted up everything for nationals.

Wagner had the crowd going for most of her energetic routine, but a flawed lutz as her final jump was costly. She responded to the fans with a deep bow when she finished, yet was shaking her head “no” when her marks were posted. Wagner scored a 130.85 in her strongest event for 196.19, and directed her ire at the judges.

“I’m furious, I am absolutely furious,” said Wagner, a threetime national champion and Sochi team bronze medalist. “I know when I go and I lay it down and I absolutely left one jump on the table, but for me to put out two programs that I did at this competition as solid as I skated and to get those scores, I am furious and I think deservedly so.”

Wagner hit all of her early jumps but made a couple of mistakes in the second half of her “La La Land” routine.