The ISU has posted its first entry list for the Junior Grand Prix circuit, for first event JGP Riga Cup in Riga, Latvia.
Canada will be sending two entries in pairs: Junior Grand Prix newcomers Dylan Conway & Dustin Sherriff-Clayton, fifth in junior pairs at the 2013 Canadian Championships, and new team Mary Orr & Phelan Simpson. Orr won national junior bronze in 2013 with Anthony Furiano, while Simpson last year finished eighth at both JGP Lake Placid and JGP Chemnitz with Shalena Rau. The U.S. contingent will be represented by 2013 national novice champions Christina Zaitsev & Ernie Utah Stevens, who in their JGP debut last year placed eleventh at JGP Croatia Cup.
All three dance entries from Canada and the U.S. enter with JGP experience and some national success. 2013 Canadian silver medalists Mackenzie Bent & Garrett Mackeen will be marking their third season on the JGP; last year the team captured bronze at JGP Austria and finished fourth at Croatia Cup. In 2012, Americans and reigning national bronze medalists Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter finished sixth at JGP Courchevel and fourth at Bosphorus Cup in their debut JGP circuit. Also competing their second year on the JGP are Elliana Pogrebinsky & Ross Gudis. The fifth-place national finishers placed sixth at JGP Lake Placid and eleventh at JGP Sencila Bled Cup in Slovenia.
Further information, including alternates for each country, are available at the ISU’s JGP Latvia/Riga Cup event page.
JGP Riga Cup is scheduled for August 28-31 in Riga, Latvia, with the competition beginning August 29. Next up is JGP Mexico Cup, with JGP silver medalists Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker and JGP newcomers Chloe Lewis & Logan Bye indicated to be the U.S.’s dance entries; the next event to include pair skating will be JGP Kosice in Slovakia.