HOUGHTON, Mich. (Jan. 6) - Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) grabbed his first national title and Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK) earned her first of the week after two silver medals as they won classic technique 1K sprints Saturday at the U.S. Cross Country Championships at Michigan Tech.
Newell held off two of his Olympic teammates, Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA)
and Chris Cook (Rhinelander, WI) - and delighted his parents who drove in the
night before from Vermont, for the victory. Randall, second in the 5K classic
and 10K freestyle technique title races at midweek, pulled away from Laura
Valaas (Minneapolis) to earn the seventh gold medal of her career.
Completing the podium with Randall and Valaas was Lindsey Weier
(Mahtomedi, MN), the Northern Michigan University senior - and Randall's
two-time Olympic teammate - who started the week winning the 5K CL. "Lindsey's
had a great week. She's skiing so well," the winner said.
Newell
finally gets gold
"It's about time," Newell said. "I've missed it a
couple of times [because of racing on the World Cup] but I've also been on the
podium twice, but never been a national champion...and especially in classic.
That's sweet," Newell said.
Organizers, who have done a heroic job
preparing the trails without a lot of natural snow, kept the sprint course off
limits during the week, so there would be optimum conditions for the race. The
sprints start with a time trial (prelim or prologue) in which everyone skis, and
then the top skiers move to the final heats.
"We had a dusting last
night, so there was a little bit of fresh snow. The tracks were icy and fast,"
Newell said, "and the conditions held up; the tracks stayed fast and firm. I
ended up going on skate skis in the qualifier, the prelim. I thought it would
good practice for events like Drammen [Norway - a classic technique World Cup
sprint site each season]. ...They tried to keep the sprint course fresh and not
have the snow skied off. There's one big hill that hadn't been used, it had a
few rollers and a few steep sections...a nice striding course for
classic..."
At the same time, he said, "The course was flat enough, so I
knew I could double-pole the whole thing. Torin was second and Chris third, a
good day for the U.S. Ski Team."
Golden "sandwich" - between two
silvers
Randall, sporting what's become almost signature pink hair - to
go with her customary wide smile, laughed as she thought about finishing second
twice earlier in the week. "Third time's a charm," she said.
"We were
lucky. It froze overnight. It could have been a lot worse. I had a fast start
and on the big uphill there are some places where you could make a good move,"
Randall said. "I took the lead and got comfortable. I came out of a turn fast so
I could accelerate and that kinda broke the pack up; Laura came with me into the
downhill and then I set myself up good on the hill and I broke it way
open.
"I just focused on skiing well," said Randall, who has mixed
classes at Alaska Pacific University with her training and racing.
U.S.
Sprint Coach Chris Grover agreed. "Kikkan looked really strong today. Every
round she created a huge gap - even through the flats to that first downhill,
and Laura was doing the same thing on her side [of the elimination heats]...and
when they came together in the A final [for the gold medal], they did the same
thing to the rest of the field. They put a huge gap from the get-go on the other
four ladies...and then Kikkan put the wood to her on the uphill and won easily.
Valaas challenging Randall
"Lindsey was a ways back of Laura,
but handily in front of fourth place," Grover added. "I've been impressed with
Laura's skiing. She's been close to Kikkan and that's world class."
In
the men's race, Grover said, Newell and Koos, the 2005 U.S. sprint champion
battled for the win with Cook and Kris Freeman (Andover, NH), who had won the
first two races of the week, in a tight duel for bronze.
"Andy and Torin
got away on the uphill and with a few hundred meters to go, either Torin or Andy
could have won. Andy just had a little more juice at the end...and then there
was small gap to Cook and Freeman, very intense...very close. Cook got him by a
foot or two," Grover said.
The title races for the championships conclude
Sunday with team - i.e., two-skier - sprint in free technique.
U.S. CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Michigan Tech Trails
Houghton, MI - Jan.
6, 2007
1K Classic Technique Sprints (6 make finals)
1. Andy Newell,
Shaftsbury, VT/U.S. Ski Team
2. Torin Koos, Leavenworth, WA/U.S. Ski
Team
3. Chris Cook, Rhinelander, WI/U.S. Ski Team
4. Kris Freeman,
Andover, NH/U.S. Ski Team
5. Lars Flora, Anchorage, AK/Subaru Factory
Team
6. Steven Scott, Salt Lake City/U. of Utah
Individual Sprint Competition Results:
For complete results: www.seniornationals.org