CLEVELAND -- Even when she's having an off night, nobody can beat Tasha Schwikert.

The defending national champion cruised through the preliminaries at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Thursday night, taking the lead and a big step toward her second title.

	Tasha Schwikert flies high off the balance beam at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

Schwikert finished with 37.650 points, 0.375 ahead of Tabitha Yim. The all-around final is Saturday night.

''I guess I can't be mad or anything, but it wasn't my best overall,'' said Schwikert, who won the individual titles on uneven bars and floor. ''I won two events out there with me not having the best two routines I do.''

Ashley Postell was third with 36.475 points. Annia Hatch, who won a bronze medal on vault at the 1996 world championships when she competed for Cuba, is tied for fourth with Nina Kim.

''It's exciting to feel that you're a part of this team,'' said Hatch, who became a U.S. citizen last December. ''It just made me really excited to go out and do well.''

Three-time junior winner Kristal Uzelac competed despite a broken little toe on her right foot. Originally expected to be out for four to six weeks, she decided Thursday to compete with her foot heavily taped.

She didn't have her best night, falling off the beam and finishing in eighth place.

''I feel I did good for what I could do and not training (Wednesday),'' Uzelac said. ''I've been training really hard for this competition and I really wanted to compete.''

Schwikert has been a roll this year, winning almost every meet she's entered. But she finished second to Hatch at the U.S. Classic last month, a stunning upset.

Schwikert used the defeat as extra motivation -- not that she really needs it. Just two years after going to the Sydney Olympics as a shy 15-year-old, she's developed into a confident young woman who's one of the world's best gymnasts. Her sassy floor routine to a jazz number electrified the arena, as she strutted across the floor and played to the crowd.

And it wasn't even the best she can do.

She landed with one foot out of bounds on one tumbling run -- an automatic deduction -- but still ended up with a 9.4, the high score of the night on floor.

On the balance beam, she did back handsprings with such ease she might as well have been on flat ground. Her only rough spot came as she warmed up on the uneven bars, her last event. Rushed by the warmup time limits, she missed the bar on a release move and plopped chest-first to the ground.

But when it came time to do her routine, Schwikert was dead on. She flipped from bar to bar with ease, her legs perfectly straight and toes pointed.

As her feet slammed into the mat on her landing, the crowd shrieked. Schwikert stood up, a broad grin crossing her face. A few minutes later, as she stood waiting for her score, some fans behind her yelled out, ''Go, Tasha!'' Schwikert turned, acknowledging them with a smile and wave.

''I was really pleased with vault, bars and beam,'' said Cassie Rice, Schwikert's coach. ''Floor was really weak for her.''

Uzelac was expected to challenge Schwikert after becoming the first woman to win three junior crowns. But the broken little toe on her right foot threw her off.

It wasn't the pain as much as not having time to adjust to her taped foot. Uzelac had heavy tape wrapped around three of her toes, and didn't get time to practice her routines like that until warmups.

''She didn't know what to expect,'' said Donna Strauss, her coach. ''If we'd been able to train, it would have given her a better idea of how it was going to feel.''

Normally consistent and steady, she struggled on the balance beam and uneven bars, scoring less than a 9.0 on both.

Doing a pirouette on the lower bar, she got wobbly and started falling to the side. She clung to the bar and managed to stay on, but swung wildly below it, looking like someone whose guide wire had been cut. She scored an 8.775.

She fared even worse on beam, falling off while doing a twisting back somersault. She scored just 8.575.

''What she showed me was her inner grit and her heart,'' Strauss said. ''If she's ever faced with adversity for a bigger competition, she knows that she can handle it. I think it's going to make her mentally stronger.''