CRAFTSBURY – Olympic medalists, youth skiers, and nearly 80-year-old veterans took part in the three-day SuperTour and U.S. National races at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center this past weekend.
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Sprinters took to the 1.5 km course on day one with double silver medalist, Ben Ogden (Landgrove) taking top honors for the U.S. National sprint title. He was closely followed by fellow Olympians J.C. Schoonmaker, Gus Schumacher, Zak Ketterson, Craftsbury’s Jack Young, and Kevin Bolger. Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) skiers Keelan Durham and Joe Lynch placed 11 and 12, while John Schwinghamer crashed out in the quarterfinals in the tricky conditions of slush turning to icy ruts on the fastest downhill corner.
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In the womens’s sprint, Canadian National Team members, Katherine Weaver and and Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, went one-two followed by Emma Albrecht (Bozeman, Montana), Erin Bianco (Bozeman), Alayna Sonneyson (Team Birkie, Minneapolis), and Lauren Jortberg (Pierre Harvey Nat’l Training Ctr – Quebec/Mansfield Nordic). GRP biathlete, Margie Freed, placed 11th. She had to re-learn classic skiing after doing almost exclusively freestyle for the past two winters competing for the U.S. Biathlon squad. Fellow GRPer Michaela Keller-Miller was 21.
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On day two, the citizen club relays started the day on a super–fast, almost icy course with teams of four skiers. The Stratton Mountain School boys had the fastest time of 48:58 with the mixed gender UVM team right behind. Craftbury’s coach squad of Ollie Burress, Anna Schultz, Audrey Mangan and Jake Brown placed 6th, while several retired GRP skiers finished 11th. Local skiers on various mixed teams included Jessica Bolduc, high schooler Oryon Hart, Gina Campoli, JoAnn Hanowski, Jim Fredericks, Damian Bolduc, and 70-plus-year old Peter Harris. Team Birkie of Minneapolis upset the APU (Alaska Pacific Univ.) crew in the SuperTour National Team relay. The Birkie team consisted of Alayna Sonneyson, Kevin Bolger, Luci Anderson and Zak Ketterson, while the APU squad included Kendall Kramer, Zanden McMullen, Novie McCabe and silver medalist Gus Schumacher. Except for Sonneyson, all of these skiers raced the Olympics in Italy this year. The GRP squad with Margie Freed, Brian Bushey, Michaela Keller-Miller and Jack Young edged out the BSF (Bozeman Ski Foundation Team) for 3rd when Young out sprinted BSF’s Anders Weiss in the final 400 meters of the 4×5 km loop course. Kevin Bolger had the fastest 5 km split for the day in 10:31, which translates into an average speed of 18 mph over 3.1 miles including half a dozen big climbs and some really fast downhills.
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Day-three was the tester with both the women and men skating 40 km in the U.S. Distance National Championship race. The women’s race broke into a lead pack of five that held strong until a sprint finish. APU’s Novie McCabe narrowly took the win (1:44:20) over Kendall Kramer of APU and Alayna Sonnesyn of Team Birkie. Luci Anderson of Team Birkie and Craftsbury’s own Margie Freed, both 2026 Olympic biathletes, finished 4th and 5th. Two weeks ago, Margie Freed had her best World Cup Biathlon races placing 3rd in the mixed team relay and 13th in an individual race. After the 40 km race on Sunday, Freed said that “it was really nice to not carry an extra ten pounds on my back, but I was a little sad to not be able to lay down in the middle of my race.” She thanked her coaches for helping her keep track of the lap count (8 laps over the 5 km course). Other GRP finishers included Keller-Miller 13, Jackie Gorso 24, and Kelsey Dickinson 37.
The men’s raced stayed more packed with 15 skiers all hanging together through the 35 km mark, when GRPer Brian Bushey pushed the pace taking the lead at 36 km. Bushey is not a sprinter and knew he had to make a move early. The fast snow conditions prevented a big break and the sprinters held close. Silver medalist Gus Schumacher (APU) outsprinted Dartmouth’s Johnny Hagenbuch for the win in 1:35:06. GRP finishers included Jake Brown 8, Bushey 11, Jack Young 13, Luke Brown 23, Jack Christner 29, Keelan Durham 34, and Joe Lynch 38.
