NOTEBOOK

The match game: The roller skating pairs team of Larry McGrew and Tina Jerue have contrasting personalities and preferences--he is an extrovert, she isn’t; he eats junk food, she doesn’t--but on the rink, they’re perfectly matched.

Or so say their coaches, Dennis and Gail Collier, owners of Skate Ranch in Santa Ana.

Dennis Collier said McGrew, of Santa Ana, and Jerue, of Corona, were paired on merit of aesthetics as well as athletics. Both are good athletes, but they are compatible in size (he’s 5-5, she’s 4-11), coloring (both have medium brown hair) and competitive outlooks (both are good under pressure).

But Jerue and McGrew? Perhaps it’s all in the rhyming names.

Gold-medal response: Moments after completing their short program Monday afternoon, Jerue and McGrew were approached by reporters, one of which actually asked them how they can compete in a sport no one takes seriously.

In the face of insult, Jerue stayed poised. It looked as if she was mentally counting to 10 before answering.

“Actually, I find people are interested in it,” she said finally. “They’ll say, ‘Oh! You do that? And that?’ I think they think it’s neat.”