On the heels of winning the U.S. National Junior Pair title on January 20, Butler University student Ernie Utah Stevens ’16 and his partner, Arizona skater Caitlin Fields, will represent the United States at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, March 2–8.

“Only two U.S. Junior Pair teams are chosen for that prestigious competition, and we wanted to be one of them,” Stevens said.

Stevens and Fields previously won the Midwestern Sectional Championships in November and a gold medal for Team USA at the Mentor Nestle Torun Cup in Torun, Poland, in early January. Then they headed to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they skated two powerful programs to win the Junior Pair title and advance to the world competition.

Fields is an experienced pair skater, having previously medaled four times at Nationals. In August, she relocated to Indianapolis, where Stevens trains with his coach of seven years, Serguei Zaitsev, at the Indiana World Skating Academy Figure Skating Club.

At Nationals, they scored almost five points ahead of the second-place team, earning an impressive 155.41 points.

“Ernie and Caitlin have respect for each other as professionals, and they possess sincere determination to be top at their Junior level,” Zaitsev said.

The pair team will move up to Senior status next season and aspires to compete at the Olympics. They currently train at the Carmel Ice Skadium.

Read more about them in this Indianapolis Star story.

 

Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822