NOTEBOOK

As Nicholas LaRoche finished his short program during the junior men’s championship Monday, he was angry, yet satisfied.

He was upset that a negligible fall during his routine probably cost him the top spot going into Tuesday’s final. But LaRoche was glad, in a sense, he was not No. 1.

“If I had been first I might have tried to slide through,” LaRoche said. “Being behind the leader I had to push myself a little harder.”

Armed with incentive, and a confidence level that soared when he landed his opening triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, the Gardner, Mass., native, who moved to California in June to train, waltzed off with the title at the Sports Arena.

For LaRoche, 18, who finished seventh in last year’s junior competition, the victory was the culmination of six intense months with new coach Ken Congemi.

“I used to have a problem with my focus,” LaRoche said. “I would do one element of the program and then lose it through the rest. We worked on completing an element, whether I did it well or not, and moving on with the program.”

Shaun Rogers of Baltimore, who led after the first round, hurt his chances by falling twice during the four-minute program. While his marks from the judges were still in the 5.1 to 5.2 range, he could not score enough to hold off LaRoche.

“I’d had a bad warmup,” said Rogers, who finished second. “I wasn’t getting enough rotation in my jumps. I think I was a little tense.”

In the junior dance competition, Loren Galler-Rabinowitz and David Mitchell of Boston maintained their lead after Tuesday’s second round.