Texas Tech K-12 Alum Competing on Olympic Ice

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Seeing Red Raiders compete in the Summer Games is nothing new. Jonathon Johnson, Sally Kipyego, and Jason White are just a few that have traded in the Red & Black for the Red, White & Blue with the eyes of the world upon them. Having an athlete suit up for the Winter is much more uncommon.

Texas Tech was represented Friday at Beijing’s Capitol Indoor Stadium, as Ashley Cain-Gribble of Euless, Texas joined up with long-time figure skating partner Timothy LeDuc for pair skating’s short program. With a score of 74.13 in the short program, the pair currently sits in seventh-place, only .1 behind fellow Americans Brandon Frazier and Alexa Knierim, who took silver in the team competition earlier this month. Cong Han and Wenjing Sui of host-nation China sit in gold medal-position with 84.41 points.

One decade ago, Ashley’s long-time Olympic journey came through Texas Tech’s K-12 program. As a teenager, she attended Coppell High School, but found her schedule to be overwhelming since she was also skating for Team USA. Eventually, she switched to long-distance learning and discovered Texas Tech’s program, which is available to students with similar schedules (Actor Jesse Plemons, who has starred in “Bridge of Spies,” “The Post” and “Jungle Cruise” graduated from the program in 2007). Along with intensive training, Cain-Gribble’s schedule included world tours with stops in France, South Korea, and Russia. While in Russia, she could study the nation’s history- which was ironically part of her curriculum in Lubbock.

When it comes to pairs’ skating, Cain-Gribble, who is the first North Texas-born figure skater to compete in the Winter Olympics, is no stranger to the sport’s competitive environment. Her father, Peter Cain, represented Australia during the Lake Placid Games of 1980, and her mother, Darlene, was an ice dancer for Canada. The two toured the globe before they ended up living in the Metroplex.

The former Red Raider returns to the ice 7 a.m. C.S.T. Saturday as they compete in the finals to the pairs free skate, and their performance will re-air on KCBD-TV with prime time coverage beginning 7 p.m. The Games conclude Sunday with the Closing Ceremony.