Drew Meekins

Drew Meekins
Drew Meekins with Jessica Rose Paetsch in 2008.
Personal information
Full name	Drew Meekins
Country represented	United States
Born	April 10, 1985 Juneau, Alaska
Home town	Wellesley, Massachusetts
Residence	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Former partner	Jessica Rose Paetsch Julia Vlassov
Coach	Dalilah Sappenfield Laureano Ibarra
Former coach	Alexander Vlassov
Choreographer	Zuzanna Szwed Tom Dickson
Skating club	Skating Club of Boston

Drew Meekins (born April 10, 1985) is an American pairs skater. With former partner Julia Vlassov, he is the 2006 World Junior Champion.

Early life and family

Drew's father, Russ Meekins, Jr., and aunt, Susan Meekins Sullivan, as Alaska state legislators in the mid 1970s.

Andrew Meekins, known as "Drew", was born in Juneau, Alaska on April 10, 1985. He is one of five children (four sons and one daughter) born to Edward Russell "Russ" Meekins, Jr. (born 1949) and his wife Nancy Harvey (he also has a half-brother from his father's earlier marriage).^[1][2] All four of his grandparents moved to Anchorage, Alaska from the Northeastern United States during the tail end of World War II and were active in business and civic affairs in Anchorage throughout the middle and late 20th century. His father, aunt and grandfather all served in the Alaska House of Representatives as Democrats representing Anchorage. His father, the only one of the three to serve more than one term, was the House's majority leader in his last term (1981–1983). In that term, he played a key role in two events which rank amongst the most significant in the history of the Alaska Legislature: the mid-session overthrow of the Democratic House leadership and its replacement with a multi-party coalition, and the bribery conviction and subsequent expulsion of a member of the Alaska Senate. As a result of the fallout from these events, he soon found himself on the outs with Alaska's political establishment. The family left Alaska ca. 1990 and moved to Massachusetts, the home state of Nancy Harvey's parents, settling on Cape Cod. One of his brothers, Cam Meekins, is a rapper.^[3]

Career

Meekins began skating at age twelve because his sister was already skating. He started out as a single skater, but he switched to pair skating when he was sixteen.

Meekins and Vlassov won the 2006 World Junior Championships. In their first season of senior international competition, they won the silver at the Nebelhorn Trophy, placed sixth at the 2006 Cup of China, and placed 5th at the 2006 NHK Trophy.^[4] Vlassov and Meekins finished in 7th place in their senior debut at the 2007 U.S. Championships. They were fifth in the free program.

Vlassov and Meekins were assigned to two Grand Prix events for the 2007-2008 season; however, they were forced to withdraw from the 2007 Skate Canada International before the event began due to an injury to Meekins's shoulder which occurred during an attempted lift in practice. Vlassov and Meekins announced the end of their partnership on November 8, 2007.^[5]

U.S. Figure Skating announced on July 14, 2008 that Meekins had teamed up with Jessica Rose Paetsch.^[6] Paetsch and Meekins placed 10th at the 2009 U.S. Championships.

After qualifying for the 2010 U.S. Championships, Paetsch & Meekins announced the end of their partnership in December 2009. Meekins is now a figure skating coach at the Broadmoor skating club in Colorado Springs, CO, but hopes to find another partner so he can compete again.

Programs

(with Vlassov)

Season	Short program	Free skating
2007–2008[7]	Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona	Titanic Symphony by Richard Clayderman
2006–2007[8]	Leelo's Tune by Maksim Mrvica Sarabande by Maksim Mrvica	Warsaw Concerto performed by Richard Clayderman
2005–2006[9]	Picante by Vanessa Mae	Paychek (soundtrack) by John Powell
2004–2005[10][11]	Picante by Vanessa Mae	Paychek (soundtrack) by John Powell
2003–2004[12]	Beethoven's 5th	Mission Impossible Pink Panther

Competitive highlights

With Paetsch

Event	2008–2009	2009–2010
U.S. Championships	10th
Midwestern Sectionals		3rd
Eastern Sectionals	3rd

With Vlassov

Event	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07
World Junior Championships			9th	1st
U.S. Championships	4th N.	1st N.	2nd J.	3rd J.	7th
Cup of China					6th
NHK Trophy					5th
Nebelhorn Trophy					2nd
Junior Grand Prix Final			4th	2nd
Junior Grand Prix, Croatia				3rd
Junior Grand Prix, Andorra				2nd
Junior Grand Prix, Ukraine			3rd
Junior Grand Prix, Belgrade			1st
NACS Waterloo			4th J.
NACS Ohio		1st N.
Eastern Sectionals	2nd N.	1st N.
New England Regionals	1st N.	1st N.
N. = Novice level; J. = Junior level

References

1. Toomey, Sheila (March 12, 2006). "Alaska Ear". Anchorage Daily News. Anchorage. p. B2.
2. Atwood, Evangeline; DeArmond, Robert N. (1977). Who's Who in Alaskan Politics. Portland: Binford & Mort for the Alaska Historical Commission. p. 66.
3. Brannen, Sarah S.; Meekins, Drew (May 23, 2012). "The Inside Edge: Sarah, Drew (try to) go hip-hop". IceNetwork. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
4. Welcome to U.S. Figure Skating
5. "Pairs Team Vlassov and Meekins Announces Split". U.S. Figure Skating. 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
6. "Pairs Team Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss End Partnership". U.S. Figure Skating. 2008-07-14. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
7. "Julia VLASSOV / Drew MEEKINS: 2007/2008". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011.
8. "Julia VLASSOV / Drew MEEKINS: 2006/2007". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 26, 2007.
9. "Julia VLASSOV / Drew MEEKINS: 2005/2006". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 14, 2006.
10. "Julia VLASSOV / Drew MEEKINS: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 10, 2005.
11. Mittan, Barry (May 8, 2005). "Arctic Pair Vlassov and Meekins". Skate Today.
12. "Julia Vlassov & Drew Meekins". U.S. Figure Skating. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007.

• "World Junior Figure Skating Championships: ISU Results: Pairs" (PDF). (10.5 KB)
• Paetsch & Meekins at the U.S. Figure Skating
• Vlassov & Meekins at the U.S. Figure Skating
• Vlassov & Meekins at the International Skating Union

External links

• Vlassov & Meekins official site