Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Skate sprints get JOs off the mark

Havlick?s gold leads Nordic kids in Utah


It was a good day for Sun Valley's Older Junior Men (ages 18-19) as the Chevrolet U.S. Junior National cross-country ski meet opened Monday at Soldier Hollow, Utah.

Ninth after Monday's 1.3-kilometer free technique qualifier in the 60-skier Men's OJ class, Sun Valley's Ian Havlick, 18, turned up the speed. He placed second in his quarterfinal, won his semi-final sprint and captured first place in the "A" Final over Dartmouth College racer Patrick O'Brien, 18.

Joining gold medalist Havlick on the podium was third-place Reid Pletcher, 18, of Sun Valley. The Sun Valley Junior Nordic ski team only had four skiers in the category and all did well—Colin Struthers sixth and Mike Matteson eighth.

Sun Valley coach Rick Kapala said, "Putting two guys n the OJ podium was neat. It was the best sprint day ever for the Intermountain Division, which bodes well for the distances where we tend to do better."

Another highlight Monday was a silver medal for 17-year-old Taylor Sundali in the Men's J1 (16-17) "A" Final. Sundali logged the best qualifying time of all 77 racers and won his semi-final before finishing second by a slim margin to Tom Smith of Mt. Bachelor (Ore.) Ski Education Foundation.

In Women's J1, Mali Noyes had the seventh-best qualifying time of the 93 racers, but she won her semi-final heat and placed second for the "A" Final silver medal behind Sophie Caldwell of Stratton Mountain, Vt. It was the best-ever finish for Noyes in the sprints.

Placing seventh in the J2 (ages 14-15) finals were 15-year-olds Makayla Cappel and Travis Job. Also making the J2 quarterfinals were Julia Bowman, Courtney Hamilton, Bronwen Raff, Scotty Phelan and Max Durtschi.

OJ Tess Dahlgren and J1 Scott Krankkala rounded out the 15 locals in Monday's 390-racer event.

After Monday's event, Pletcher and Struthers are leaving for Tarvisio, Italy and the World Junior Nordic Championships March 12-18.

Coaches Kapala, Abi Holt, Chris Mallory and Swedish coach Mickan Sundbaum. are with the group in Utah.

Mass start skate races are today, Wednesday, March 7 followed by individual start classic races Friday, March 9 and classic relays Saturday.




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