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Kopmar and Barrett repeat as titlists


By Michael Terry


“Two for two!” T at’s what Jonah Barrett said as he came


off the ice after the novice pairs medal ceremony in Saint Paul. Barrett and his partner Elli Kopmar (South-


west Florida FSC) followed up on last year’s inter- mediate pairs championship with the novice pairs title.


“It’s a great feeling,” Barrett said. “Honestly,


it’s one of the few times that I’m not really sure what to say. We’re really happy and we couldn’t have asked for a better performance.” T e duo led after their short program, skating to Georges Bizet’s “L’Arlesi- enne Suite, No. 2” after receiving positive Grades of Execution (GOE) on all seven elements. T e performance, which was highlighted by a throw triple Salchow


and a Level 4 lift, earned


41.66 points. But it was their 84.47-point, ET-themed


free skate that sealed the deal. T ey skated clean, landing fi ve jumps, in-


cluding a throw double loop and side-by-side double Lutzes in the back half of their program. T e duo’s free skate was adjusted following


Elli Kopmar and Jonah Barrett


sectionals to give the ending more of a punch, coach Jim Peterson said. “It had more of an emotional push at the end with the choreographed sequence,” Peterson said. “We put a few of their stronger elements closer to the end so it had more of a stronger fi - nality to it.” T e pair wants to work on another throw


triple Salchow, triple twist, more diffi cult lifts and improve their skating skills as they jump to the junior level, Kopmar said. “T ey did a great job. I was really pleased


with how they did, given the lateness of the event,” Peterson said of the 9:25 p.m. local start time. “It wasn’t their best, but they got the job done and I think that their quality and GOE on the smaller elements, like the spins, the death spi- rals and the choreographed sequence, really held them up, and the lifting was improved. I think they have a very easy skating style together and that’s been their forte from the beginning.” T e win started an impressive stretch for Pe-


terson’s pairs teams, which captured junior and championship-level titles as well. “T e junior- and senior-level teams at our rink help us to step up our game,” Kopmar said. “T ey’re a great example for us and show us what we’re capable of.” Isabella Gamez and Griffi n Schwab took


home the silver medal, earning 117.70 points. T e duo put together a focused and fi erce short program, and they followed up with a stellar free skate by bringing parts of West Side Story to life.


Sapphire Jaeckel and Matthew Scoralle SKATING 47


“T e love story between Maria and Tony is just a beautiful part of the movie,” Gamez said. “I love acting, so I really like to be Maria and [Schwab] does a great job of being Tony. On and off the ice we have a good relationship, so it’s not that hard to translate that to the ice.” For their free skate, Schwab (SC of New


York) and Gamez (Los Angeles FSC) earned 6.50 points for a Level 3 lasso lift and closed their pro- gram with a throw double Salchow, Level 2 lift and Level 2 death spiral. T is is Gamez’s fi rst season skating pairs.


the T e pair has been together since June, and are now coched by Jenni Meno and Todd Sand. “T ey are super fun to teach,” Meno said, standing next to a giggly Gamez. “T is what you see right now is what we get every day, and they also work so hard.” Schwab agreed: “(Our free skate) was awe-


some. It’s the same thing that we’ve been doing every day. Just working hard, attacking it and do- ing our thing.”


Another team coached by Meno and Sand


took home the bronze medal with 113.69 points. Sapphire Jaeckel and Matthew Scoralle (All


Year FSC) placed sixth following their T e Sound of Music-themed short program. T ey performed their free skate to music from the movie soundtrack of Kung Fu Panda. It featured fi ve jumps and fi ve elements that were awarded Level 3 or 4. T e duo is already looking forward to next


season. “We really wanted to go out and skate a per- sonal best and show the judges how much we’ve improved and just skate for ourselves,” Jaeckel said. “T is has been a really good experience. We’re really happy and proud of our accomplish- ments this season and we can’t wait for next sea- son.”


“Both of the teams work really hard and train


really well together,” Meno said. “T ey both came here and skated well. It’s really very exciting.” Emma Coppess (All Year FSC) and Robert


Hennings (Los Angeles FSC) took home the pew- ter medal, earning 112.89 points.


,VDEHOOD *DPH] DQG *ULIÀ Q 6FKZDE


PHOTOS BY JAY ADEFF/U.S. FIGURE SKATING


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