Eldredge Is Master of the Ice : Figure skating: The men, like the women the day before, put on an outstanding show at the U.S. Championships.

MINNEAPOLIS —  Todd Eldredge skated to “Master of the House” from the musical “Les Miserables,” and, in the majority of judges’ eyes, he was exactly that in successfully defending his championship at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

But there were at least three other skaters Sunday who owned the Target Center for at least the 4 1/2 minutes of their free-skating programs.

“It was too bloody good,” said Toller Cranston, who coaches Christopher Bowman. “This competition was like the World Championships. I’m glad I didn’t have to judge it.”

The nine who did have to judge it scored Bowman, of Van Nuys, second; Paul Wylie, of Denver, third and Mark Mitchell, of Hamden, Conn., fourth. But if they had awarded the first four places by drawing names out of a hat, hardly anyone among the crowd of 6,324 would have quibbled.

The next eight skaters were not so bad, either, in a field that rivaled the outstanding women’s competition of Saturday for depth.

“These championships had the greatest depth I’ve ever seen, men and women,” said Evy Scotvold, who coaches Wylie.

About the only thing the men’s competition did not have was a successful quadruple jump, but at least there was an attempt by fifth-place Michael Chack of Bricktownship, N.J.

Only two men have landed one. He would have been the first American. But that might have been too much history for one week. Tonya Harding became the first U.S. woman to complete a triple axel Saturday.

There were triple axels galore Sunday. Even the 14th-place finisher tried one.

That does not mean the 3 1/2-revolution jump is routine.

Going into his triple axel, Bowman said he told himself, “‘Be careful, be careful, just be careful.’

“I felt all three wishes were used up on that one jump,” he said.

If there was one factor that contributed most to Eldredge’s victory, it was that he landed two triple axels. The judges gave him enough of an edge in technical merit scores to compensate for Bowman’s superior composition and style.

But Eldredge, the son of a commercial fisherman from Chatham, Mass., also has improved since last year in the latter category, which he attributed to the ballet lessons he has been taking while training in San Diego.

Eldredge, 19, said he considers this title more significant because of the competition. Bowman, 23, withdrew last year with a back injury after winning in 1989.

Wylie, a 26-year-old Harvard senior, said he would have retired if he had not jumped ahead of Mitchell into third place and earned a berth in the World Championships next month at Munich. Wylie was fourth entering the free skating, which counts toward two-thirds of the total score.

“If you have a skater who skates absolutely perfectly like Mark Mitchell, and he drops a place, you have to think about it,” Cranston said.

Mitchell, 22, did not complain, although, skating to the music from “On the Waterfront,” he could have been a contender.

“The thing that makes skating in the United States so good is that you have to work so hard,” he said.