When we spoke to Cain last summer, she and her partner Josh Reagan were looking forward to another good season. The pairs team had performed well on the junior circuit. They won the Junior division at the 2011 national championships and competed at the 2011 Junior World Championships in South Korea, where they placed fourth.

Last year, they had a promising senior debut, placing within the top 10 at two international competitions and placing sixth at the 2012 National Figure Skating Championships.

But now Cain is skating solo, after her partnership with Reagan ended in February.

“It was really complicated my partner just came in one day and said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,'” Cain said. “I just kind of picked myself back up I knew I could always rely on myself for singles, so I just took that and I’ve been going ever since.”

Cain certainly has the track record of being competitive in singles skating. In 2010, she placed second in the Novice division at the US National Championships, while earning the same placement in the Junior division at the this year’s National Championships. She also competed in two Junior Grand Prix events last season and placed in the top 10.

Coached by her mother and father, Darlene and Peter Cain, Ashley comes from a skating family. Her mother was a national ice-dancing competitor for Canada, while her father was a five-time Australian National pairs champion, four time World competitor, and competed at the 1980 Olympic Games in pairs skating.

Cain trains in Euless, Texas at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter, where Darlene Cain is the skating programs manager and Peter Cain is the senior professional. Her mother also helps design her costumes.

If not for their extreme involvement in the sport, Cain might not be skating.

“I was always at the rink since my parents were coaches I wanted to skate just like all the kids they were teaching,” Cain said. “Ever since then I’ve loved it and just want to keep going.”

Cain has several goals in mind for the 2012-2013 season.

“I just moved up to senior level, and so I’m hoping to make it nationals and have a nice senior debut I ‘ve already been told I have one Junior Grand Prix, so hopefully I’ll qualify for another one and qualify for the final,” Cain said. “I just really want to put myself out there, skate clean programs, and be consistent this season,”

This year, Cain is scheduled for the 2012 Junior Grand Prix France in Courchevel, France, Aug. 22-26, and is no doubt one of brightest rising stars in ladies figure skating.

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