U.S. Biathlon Trials

CRAFTSBURY – Biathletes from across the country and Canada descended upon the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for the U.S. International Biathlon trials along with the Eastern Regional Cup last week.

On day one, in the sprint races, Chloe Levins (Crosscut – Bozeman, Mt.) hit 10 of 10 targets in the women’s 7.5 km race. Levins, who grew up in Rutland, has been on and off the U.S. team for several years and is looking to get back to European racing after illness plagued her this past year. She’s off to a good start.

Sarah Beaulieu (Sugar Bowl Academy, Truckee, Calif.) placed 2nd, and Tara Geraghty-Moats (National Guard/Fairlee) was 3rd.

On the men’s side, Travis Cooper (National Guard) took the win shooting clean with Etienne Bordes (Crosscut) in 2nd (missed 1) and Craftsbury Green Racing Project’s Tim Cunningham 3rd (missed 2) in the 10 km race. For each target missed, racers have to ski a penalty loop which takes about 25-30 seconds.

In the 12.5 km mass start, the women finished in the same order in their 12.5 km race with four shooting rounds (total 20 shots): Levins, Geraghty-Moats, and Beaulieu. Nikolas Burkhart (Crosscut) won the men’s 15 km race. Tim Cobb (Fairfax,/Crosscut) had a strong 3rd place. In the third and final sprint race of the trials, Geraghty-Moats swapped places with Levins with her fast ski speed missing three shots compared to Levins one, but still finishing in first. Travis Cooper came back strong for the final race victory.

On Saturday and Sunday, additional racing took place for junior and open men’s and women’s events. Aemelia Terrone (Craftsbury) placed 2nd in the U13/U15 girls race. Over 100 racers from Maine to Ontario took part in the racing action.

Jack Young and Finn Sweet Shine at Supertour Races in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Jack Young (Jay) grew up learning to ski at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. He was also the starting quarterback for North Country Union. He did well in high school skiing but because he did not train as much as the top skiers, he tended to finish right behind them. Young is now in his third year at Colby College and devoting more time to skiing in the off-season. He hit a near home run in his first race of the season, on December 12, against the best skiers in the U.S. and Canada (who are not on World Cup) by having the fastest qualifier time in the skate sprint race (3:06). The Supertour is the race series in the U.S. where skiers travel the country and earn points that can help them qualify for World Cup starts and junior international races. Craftsbury will be hosting two Supertour races at the end of January.

The top 30 races move onto the heats where six skiers go head-to-head and the top two move onto the semifinals. Young was 2nd in the fastest of five heats. He then set a determined pace and won his semi. In the final, he placed 4th. Julian Locke (Nelson, B.C.) finished first. Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) skiers, Braden Becker finished 10th and Margie Freed and Michaela Keller-Miller, placed 8th and 10th for the day in the women’s sprint race.

In the 10 km classic individual start race on December 13, Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) skiers had a bunch of top-20s with Margie Freed 4th, Alex Lawson 15, and Michaela Keller-Miller 20. On the men’s side, Braden Becker placed 9th with Finn Sweet 14 and Jack Young 40. Sweet is a Craftsbury Academy graduate and currently skis at UVM. Nineteen year-old sensation Samantha Smith (University of Utah) won both the skate sprint and the 10 km classic race (30:49). Maximillian Hollmann (Thunder Bay, Ont.) was first in 27:04 in the men’s race.

After a two-day break, Sweet and Young again had fast results placing 10th and 13th in the classic sprint qualifier this past Saturday. Finn Sweet made it to the semis and finished 5th, but not quite fast enough to make it to the final. On the final day of racing in the 10 km mass start skate race, Sweet placed 21st and Young was 26th to cap an outstanding week of racing. Both these guys are juniors in college and they finished ahead of a substantial number of professional and world cup veterans. One of those professionals is Craftsbury GRP skier, Braden Becker, who placed 8th in the mass start race where there were 10 skiers within 11 seconds of each other at the finish. Michael Earnhardt (Alaska Pacific University) found the fastest gear winning in 24:26. On the women’s side, Margie Freed (Craftsbury GRP) finished 7th in the 10 km mass start where there were 10 skiers within 6 seconds of each other making for a very exciting and tight finish. Sonja Schmidt (Whitehorse, Yukon) came out on top in 28:09. GRP skiers Alex Lawson and Michaela Keller-Miller came in 14th and 18th.

First Eastern Cup Regional Ski Race

WATERVILLE, MAINE – Ameilia Circosta from Greensboro and Ruth Krebs from Craftsbury started the ski season in high form this past weekend at the New England Nordic Ski Association Eastern Cup races. Circosta, a junior in high school (homeschooled), placed 2nd in the open women’s qualifier against some of the top college racers in New England. She won her quarterfinal race, and was fast enough in the semi-final to make it to the 6-person final where she ended up 6th. Krebs qualified 14th and was 4th in her quarterfinal. Craftsbury Academy graduate, Camille Bolduc (UVM) made it to the semi-finals. Craftsbury Ski Club racer, Sage Grossi, qualified 18th in the men’s race. In the U18 (under 18)/U20 race, Anika Leahy placed 4th in her semi-final.

On the second day of racing, the men and women raced 7.5 km in an individual skate race. Krebs found something extra finishing 4th overall. Like Circosta, Krebs is a junior in high school (at St. Johnsbury Academy) and she out-skied skiers from UNH, Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Harvard, Williams, and UVM. Bolduc finished 5th, and Circosta 13th. Other Craftsbury Ski Club (CSC) skiers included Meg Voison 16, Anika Leahy 34, Isabel Linton 35, and Emily Linton 40. On the men’s side, CSC skier Sage Gross had another impressive race finishing 14th overall.