BOSTON -- No one ever really came out and said it -- people just aren't that rude -- but Sarah Hughes knew she'd caused quite a stir.

Sure, she'd been the bronze medalist at the U.S. championships last year, and runner-up at the junior world championships in 1999. But she was just 15. She wasn't supposed to be giving the old gals a run for their money yet.

	Sarah Hughes will be all smiles if she dethrones Michelle Kwan.

Yet that's exactly what Hughes has been doing all season. In a four-week span, she gave Michelle Kwan a scare at Skate America, finished second to former world champion Maria Butyrskaya at the Nations Cup and was third at the Cup of Russia.

"It's probably the best four weeks of my life. It really was," Hughes said. "People didn't say, `Oh, well, it's between Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes,' my name was never really mentioned. Then to come and surprise everybody as (coach) Robin (Wagner) and I did, it was fun.

"It was like, 'Hey, I'm here.' "

Yes, Hughes has definitely arrived. At this week's U.S. Figure Skating Championships, she won't compete thinking that maybe, just maybe, if she has the skate of her life she could possibly upset Kwan, the four-time champion.

She'll compete knowing she can do it.

"I hope for her to be on the podium at least in second place -- if not higher than that," Wagner said. "I understand you can't just do one performance and necessarily be at the top. It's earning the respect of the judges. I think she's really reached that level now."

This was, of course, the plan all along. Skating since she was 3, this isn't some after-school activity. Hughes travels an hour to get to the rink. She takes only one school class a day so she can train, getting take-home assignments and lessons from the rest of her teachers.

She's worked her way up the ranks steadily, very surely.

But planning for something and achieving it can be two entirely different things.

"I always dreamed of going to the Olympics in 2002 and everything," said Hughes, who turns 16 in May. "I thought it might be possible, but I didn't think I'd be where I am right now, now."

Hughes got on the fast track in 1998, when she won the U.S. junior title. She was runner-up at the 1999 junior world championships, then made the jump to the senior level, finishing a surprising fourth at her first national championships.

She jumped to third at last year's nationals and fifth at the world championships. And then this, her breakout season.

"At first, you don't really notice," Hughes said of her rapid rise. "I go to the rink every day and it doesn't seem overnight. Then I look back and it's like, 'Wow, (the 1999 nationals) were only two years ago.' It's crazy."

The ride has been fast and smooth. Wagner and Hughes' parents have been very careful, making sure the teen-ager isn't pushed too hard or forced to grow up too fast.

It's why she still goes to her local high school, even if it is only for an hour a day. It's why she still lives at home, where she does chores like any of her five siblings. It's why Wagner waited until this year to have her skate to "Don Quixote," a more mature piece of music she couldn't have pulled off a year ago.

"I've been very careful not to expect too much of Sarah too soon. Therefore, it's made Sarah understand not to expect too much of herself too soon," Wagner said. "I don't think at any point she's felt uncomfortable in her position. That means we're on the right track, it's healthy."

But now, with the Salt Lake City Olympics only a year away, the expectations are mounting. Hughes may be young, but Tara Lipinski was only 15 when she won gold at the Nagano Olympics, 14 when she won the U.S. and world titles.

Her success this season has made Hughes realize her dreams may not be that far out of reach, after all.

"I think I probably am more confident," she said. "I feel if I really go out and skate my best, I can win or be a real contender. It puts me in a little bit of a different situation."