Yarmouth High sophomore Franz-Peter Jerosch and his partner, Jade Esposito, won Intermediate Pairs silver medals at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Sunday afternoon in Independence, Missouri.

Jerosch and Esposito, of Newton, Massachusetts, placed second in Sunday’s free skate after winning Saturday night’s short program and finished second overall among 12 pairs with a score of 95.61 points.

A brother-sister team from Michigan, Ivan Mokhov and Masha Mokhova, won the free skate after placing second in the short program to win gold with 97.11 points. He’s 17 and she’s 10.

Jerosch and Esposito, both 15, had one wobble on the landing of their first of two throws, costing them a .80 deduction. They also lost .36 after downgrading a planned double flip-double loop combination into a single loop along with the double flip.

“A couple mistakes, but we gave it all we could,” Jerosch said by phone after the medals ceremony. “We fought for everything. I felt very happy leaving the ice. I know Jade did, too.”

Jerosch and Esposito are in their first year as partners, and practice three days a week, in either Maine or Boxborough, Massachusetts. They won the Eastern Sectionals in November and on Sunday placed nearly four points ahead of the bronze medalists, Isabelle Martins and Ryan Bedard of Chicago, who had 91.77.

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Last year, Martins and Bedard won Juvenile Pairs while Jerosch and his former partner, Julia Curran of Westbrook, placed second.

“What they did for skating only three days a week and for being together for less than a year is phenomenal,” said Kristin Andrews, who coaches them when they practice in Maine. “There is nothing wrong with second place nationals. I’m super-duper proud of them.”

Jerosch and Esposito had taken a slight lead after the short program, 34.70 to 34.40 for the team from Lansing, Michigan.

“We knew that for us to win we would have to skate perfectly clean in (free),” said Jerosch, who skated 11th of the 12 teams, just behind the Mokhova-Mokhov siblings. “I only saw snippets of their program. I knew that when they came off the ice they had skated clean because they were really excited. But I was prepared. It didn’t really bother me that much.”

Pacific Sectionals champions Altice Sollazo and Paul Yeung of California entered nationals with the highest score of the three Sectional winners. They placed sixth in Sunday’s free skate after taking third in Saturday’s short program to place fourth overall with 88.87 points and earn pewter medals.

Jerosch said he will remain in Missouri until Thursday to watch skaters at the higher Novice, Junior and Senior levels. He and Esposito also plan to attend a seminar for skaters who hope to eventually represent the United States at international competitions.


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