GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Ryan Bradley's free skate was flawed, uncharacteristically conservative and, frankly, a little disappointing.

Not that Bradley cares. A national title is a national title, regardless of how you get it.

Boosted by his big lead from the short program and meltdowns by the guys who had been right behind him, Bradley won his first crown at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Sunday afternoon. He finished fourth in the free skate, but it was enough to edge up-and-comers Richard Dornbush and Ross Miner.

"Today was a really hard program," Bradley said. "Nothing was pretty. It was probably the ugliest national championship program (by a winner) ever, and I love it because of it. Because I had to be gritty."

Bradley finished with 231.90 points. Dornbush, who was so out of the mix when the day began he didn't even skate in the last group, won the free skate and finished with 225.56 overall. Miner jumped to third after being sixth in the short program.

Two-time defending champion Jeremy Abbott crumbled on yet another big stage, dropping to fourth with a poor free skate and costing himself a spot on the world championships team.

"I'm extremely disappointed," Abbott said. "It's hard."

Despite their youth, U.S. Figure Skating officials picked both Dornbush, who won the JUNIOR Grand Prix final last month, and Miner, who turned 20 on Monday, to join Bradley at worlds in Tokyo in March. Abbott's history

on the world stage is so checkered it makes sense to give young skaters exposure with the clock on the Sochi Olympics already ticking.

It's safe to say, though, that the powerful Japanese and Canada's Patrick Chan probably won't lose any sleep over the U.S. lineup.

Perhaps it was skating last or being so close to the title, but Bradley was uncharacteristically flat. His jumps weren't that great, either, missing both of his quads and having shaky landings on a few other jumps.

But he tossed a triple toe on his second triple axel, and then did a triple-double-double combination that helped to pad his point total.

Alissa Czisny became a national champion for a second time in her career, edging Rachael Flatt for first place at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Saturday night.

Czisny, who also won the title in 2009, landed a triple loop and her triple toe was outstanding, on the way to a free skate score of 128.74. That boosted her total to 191.24, which was well ahead of the defending champion Flatt (183.38).

"I was really nervous before I went out there," Czisny said. "I knew exactly what I had to do. Before every jump I thought about what I was here for and what my goals were. I fought for every single thing."

Flatt, who was in third place going into the free skate, had trouble landing a double axel-triple toe combination early in her routine. Yet, she still finished ahead of Mirai Nagasu (177.26), the 2008 champion who was in the lead following Thursday's short program.

"It certainly wasn't my best," Flatt said. "I've been training clean programs at home and I did two clean long programs while I was here. Obviously, it was a little bit disappointing."