Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Arritola grabs silver in national marathon

30k classic at Fairbanks


Ketchum's Morgan Arritola saved her best for last and captured the silver medal in the women's 30-kilometer classic race of the 2009 U.S. Cross Country Distance Championships Sunday at Fairbanks, Ak.

Arritola, 22, a Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Olympic Development Team racer, had the fastest split in the first of four legs and led the field at the halfway point. But Liz Stephen, 22, of Vermont had the fastest splits in the final two legs to win by 14 seconds over Arritola out of 32 racers.

Stephen's time was 1.38:20 and Arritola's time 1.38:34. It was Stephen's third national title of the season. She and Bozeman's Leif Zimmermann, 25, took the titles of overall American champions for 2009.

"The battle was really good," said Stephen about her come-from-behind win over Arritola. "Morgan led for most of the race. There were about five of us. Morgan was really pushing the pace. I started reeling people in and on the last huge hill I got some space from Morgan and was able to keep it."

It was Arritola's fourth silver medal in the last two national championships. Last year she was second to Stephens in both the 15k and 30k national races at Fairbanks, 50 seconds and 1:32 behind, and second to Kikkan Randall in the 10k classic at Houghton, Mich., some 53 seconds behind.

Another SVSEF ODT racer, 19-year-old Noah Hoffman of Aspen, Colo., was fourth overall and earned the silver medal as the second-fastest U.S. racer in Sunday's 50k (31-mile) men's classic race. In fact, Hoffman was in first place after five of the seven legs before fading with the 16th-best final leg.

The American winner was Alaska Pacific's James Southam of Anchorage in 2.31:40. Hoffman was at 2.32:21.

Here are top results and Sun Valley finishers from Fairbanks. The highest-placing U.S. skier, named national champion, is also listed in results:

Men's 50k classic, March 29: 1—Stefan Kuhn (Canada) 2.30:06. 3—James Southam (Anchorage/Alaska Pacific) 2.31:40. 4—Noah Hoffman (SVSEF) 2.32:21. 26—Colin Rodgers (SVSEF) 2.43:04. 27—Mike Sinnott (SVSEF) 2.44:28. 44—Mike Matteson (Alaska Pacific) 3.01:08 (50 racers).

Women's 30k classic, March 29: 1—Liz Stephen (East Montpelier, Vt.) 1.38:20. 2—Morgan Arritola (SVSEF) 1.38:34. 22—Nicole DeYong (SVSEF) 1.50:23 (32 racers).

Men's 30k pursuit, March 27: 1—Ivan Babikov (Canada) 1.26:03. 2—Leif Zimmermann (Bozeman) 1.27:40. 11—Mike Sinnott (SVSEF) 1.29:28. 13—Noah Hoffman (SVSEF) 1.29:35. 15—Colin Rodgers (SVSEF) 1.29:54 (51 racers). DNS—Mike Matteson (Alaska Pacific).

Women's 15k pursuit, March 27: 1—Liz Stephen (East Montpelier, Vt.) 47:36. 14—Nicole DeYong (SVSEF) 50:56 (30 racers). DNS—Morgan Arritola (SVSEF).

Men's freestyle team sprint, March 26: 1—Chris Cook and Torin Koos (USST) 20:17. 5—Mike Sinnott and Colin Rodgers (SVSEF) 20:32 (10 teams).

Women's freestyle team sprint, March 26: 1—Morgan Smyth and Liz Stephen (USST) 23:19. 6—Morgan Arritola and Nicole DeYong (SVSEF) 24:16 (10 teams).

Men's 10k classic, March 25: 1—James Southam (Anchorage/Alaska Pacific) 28:56. 11—Noah Hoffman (SVSEF) 29:45. 12—Mike Sinnott (SVSEF) 29:53. 17—Colin Rodgers (SVSEF) 30:21 (48 starters and 46 finishers).

Women's 5k classic, March 25: 1—Kristina Strandberg (Sweden) 16:00. 2—Morgan Smyth (Vernon, Vt.) 16:31. 9—Morgan Arritola (SVSEF) 16:54. 11—Nicole DeYong (SVSEF) 16:58 (28 racers).




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.