Where you started had something to do with where you finished Tuesday during the men's 10-kilometer freestyle race of the 2008 U.S. Nordic Ski Championships on the Michigan Tech Trails at Houghton, Mich.
It started snowing during the second 5k lap of the men's race. Conditions deteriorated as the men faced a strong Lake Superior headwind on the 100-meter uphill finish and, at times, heavy lake-effect snow.
The men's second-place finisher and American champion was Olympian Leif Zimmermann, 24, of Bozeman, Mont. He finished in 24:39 and had the best second lap.
Zimmermann said, "It started snowing during our second lap but I went early (among 253 racers) and for the most part didn't have any problems."
Ketchum's Mike Sinnott of The Factory Team had some problems. Sinnott, 22, clocked the 10th-best first lap but struggled with the 33rd-fastest second lap to finish in 17th place overall with a time of 25:55—the second fastest U-23 racer.
Best local racer was Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Olympic Development Team entrant Noah Hoffman, eighth place overall and the first Men's Older Junior in 25:17.
Bridger Ski Foundation racer Zimmermann and Caitlin Compton, 27, of Minneapolis, Minn. and Central Cross-Country Ski Team collected their second national titles Tuesday at Michigan Tech. There were 253 finishers in the men's race and 185 in the 5k women's event.
Russian National Team racer Ivan Babikov, skiing in the Guest Class for The Factory Team and now a Canadian resident, had the fastest time (24:23) by nine seconds over Zimmermann but only American citizens are eligible at the U.S. Championships for medals or titles. Zimmermann also won the 2004 U.S. sprint championship in Rumford, Maine.
Compton, who shared the team sprint title last season with Laura Valaas, is on the U.S. biathlon team after winning the 2007 SuperTour distance and overall titles. Her winning time was 13:47, 24 seconds ahead of runner-up Liz Stephen.
Top local was U.S. Nordic "B" Team racer Morgan Arritola, 21, of Fairfield, in seventh place and the third U-23 racer in 14:22. Last year's 10k skate national queen Alexa Turzian, of Ketchum and Middlebury College, finished 14th and the second OJ in 14:43.
After an off day Wednesday, racing resumed Thursday with classic technique competitions, men's 15K CL and a women's 10K. Individual sprints are Saturday and team sprints finish the week on Sunday, Jan. 6.
In addition to deciding World Cup spots, the U.S. championships also are being used in selecting a Junior Championships Team and Under-23 Championships squad.
For updated results check the Web site www.seniornationals.org.
Top placings and local results:
Men's 10k freestyle: 1—Ivan Babikov 24:23. 2—Leif Zimmermann 24:39. 8—Noah Hoffman (SVSEF) 25:17 (1-OJ). 17—Mike Sinnott (Factory) 25:55 (2-U23). 19—Ben True (SVSEF) 25:57 (3-U23). 20—Colin Rodgers (SVSEF) 25:57 (15-SR). 26—Reid Pletcher (SVSEF) 26:02 (4-OJ). 62—Ian Havlick (University of Utah) 27:09 (9-OJ). 65—Matt DeCarufel (University of Nevada) 27:14. 66—Mike Matheson (Alaska Pacific) 27:14. 84—Taylor Sunali (SVSEF) 27:45 (16-OJ). 129—Scott Krankkala (SVSEF) 28:48 (32-OJ). 152—Max Durtschi (SVSEF) 29:33 (17-J1). 196—Scott Phelan (SVSEF) 31:00 (33-J1).
Women's 5k freestyle: 1—Caitlin Compton (CXC/USBA) 13:47. 7—Morgan Arritola (USST/SVSEF) 14:22 (3-U23). 11—Nicole DeYong (SVSEF) 14:31 (7-SR). 14—Alexa Turzian (USST/Middlebury) 14:43 (2-OJ). 23—Mali Noyes (SVSEF) 15:02 (5-OJ). 24—Kate Underwood (SVSEF) 15:02 (13-SR). 27—Kate Whitcomb (SVSEF) 15:10 (16-SR). 100—Bronwen Raff (SVSEF) 16:24 (17-J1). 133—Julia Bowman (SVSEF) 17:12 (27-J1).
Morgan Arritola
