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Silver Medal Sectional Winners Headed to U.S. Figure Skating Junior Nationals Dec. 8
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Press release submitted by Jill Doak on behalf of the Figure Skating Club of the Quad Cities. Nine-year-old Anya Cockerell and 15-year-old Mark Krutzfield have skated together in just three competitions, but they are already headed to the "Big Time." From Dec. 8 though 13, they will participate in the 2009 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York. Their second place Midwest Sectional finish in Sugar Land, Texas on November 14 earned them a spot to U.S. Figure Skating’s most elite competition for Juvenile and Intermediate level skaters. The Bettendorf fourth grader started skating with the Iowa City sophomore less than a year ago, and they didn’t enter any competitions together until July. Mark and Anya practice together about four hours per week between the Quad City Sports Center and ice rinks in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Both are members of the Figure Skating Club of the Quad Cities, but Mark’s primary figure skating affiliation is with the Eastern Iowa Figure Skating Club based in Cedar Rapids. Anya and Mark are coached in the Quad Cities by Anya’s mom, World Universaide Pairs Champion and former USSR World Team Member, along with Eugene Heffron a 1968 Olympian and coach of 2006 Olympian Matt Savoie. Nataliya Petcherskaia teaches ballet adapted for figure skaters to young Anya; she also coached Elena back in the Soviet Union. When Anya and Mark travel to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City rinks, they are coached by 2006 U.S. Junior Pair’s Champion and 2006 World Junior Silver Medalist Andy Seitz, along with former US National Novice Champion and former international competitor Tanya Street-Burgess. 
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