More From the BSF SuperTour Sprint

Full photogallery available online at: www.bsfnordic.com

Over the past seven days at Bohart Ranch in Bozeman, MT, conditions changed from mid-winter powder, to slush, to boilerplate ice, and finally to a powder-granular mix for the races. Conditions did not hinder Laura Valaas (USST/APU/Salomon), who sprinted to her second SuperTour victory of the season. In the men’s field, it was Snorri Einarsson (University of Utah) claiming the victory over tough-luck teammate Even Sletten.

Finding the right kick and glide combination for the day was simple, as the temperature hovered between 10-13 degrees for most of the day. Athletes raced on a backup-backup course that was approximately 1300 meters in length, with the only challenging climb situated around the 200 meter mark. After that it was gradual rolling terrain that called for a lot of double-poling.

Women took to the course first, on a calm and overcast morning. Leading the qualification was Katie Ronsse (DU/APU), who finished 3rd overall in the season-opening sprint in West Yellowstone. Next were Lindsay Williams (USST/NMU) and Laura Valaas (USST/APU). All three women were separated by a margin of 0.43 seconds.

The men raced the same course as the women, but some were frustrated by the double-pole or classic dilemma. Kevin Hochtl (Rossignol) was one of the few to choose to double-pole the entire length of the prologue. He looked strong and had made up a significant amount of time on the current SuperTour leader Garrott Kuzzy (CXC/Salomon), who started immediately ahead of him. At the finish, Hochtl was in 2nd place, just 0.50 seconds behind the Even Sletten (UU). In third, another 4 seconds back, was Marshall Greene (XC Oregon/Madshus).

The storyline through most of the women’s heats was the same: tight racing through the first ~300m — to the top of the climb — but with the field spreading out considerably by the finish line. The quarterfinals were a near-reproduction of the prologue, with bibs 1-12 advancing to the semifinals. Karin Camenisch (Rossignol) advanced from the quarterfinals as a lucky-loser, and was the only female that qualified outside of the top-5 to make it to the A-final. She joined Ronsse (qualified 1st), Williams (qualified 2nd), Valaas (qualified 3rd), Kristina Strandberg (qualified 4th), and Kasandra Rice (qualified 5th). At the finish line, it was Valaas winning by several meters over Williams, with Ronsse, Rice, Strandberg and Camenisch rounding out the top-6.

The men’s heats were more volatile as the double-pole or classic dilemma played itself out. More skiers chose to double-pole, with several wearing their complete skate setup. In one bracket, Hochtl smoothly advanced through quarters and semis with the double-pole strategy. Not to be outdone, Sletten and Einarsson both looked strong in the opposite bracket — choosing to kick and glide.

After finishing in the lower-half of their semifinals, Colin Rodgers (SVSEF/Fischer-Craft) and Brayton Osgood (XC Oregon/Fischer-Craft) both switched to skate gear for the B-finals. The two clearly made the right decision, but perhaps too late in the day, as they finished 7th and 8th overall.

In the men’s A-final, it was Sletten out to a fast start, only to lose a pole at the base of the climb. A quick response from one of the coaches on course replaced his pole — though he was relegated to the back of the train of 6 skiers. By the time the group emerged from the woods and entered the stadium, it was Einarsson, Hochtl, and Sletten leading the charge. Einarsson held on to win by ~2 meters ahead of teammate Sletten. Hochtl claimed the final position on the podium, with Greene, Brian Gregg (CXC/Salomon) and David Chamberlain (MWSC) rounding out the top-6.

Competitions resume tomorrow with very challenging 12km/16km individual skate races. Stay tuned to www.fasterskier.com and www.bsfnordic.com for all the latest!

WOMEN FINAL:
Place, name, team, bib

1. Laura Valaas USST/APU/Salomon 3
2. Lindsay Williams USST/NMU 2
3. Katie Ronsse DU/APU 1
4. Kasandra Rice APU 5
5. Kristina Strandberg Factory Team/Salomon 4
6. Karin Camenisch Rossignol 11
7. Martine Stursova Rossignol 8
8. Lindsey Dehlin USST/NMU 10
9. Becca Rorabaugh APU 6
10. Kate Arduser APU/Rossignol 7
11. Sarah MacCarthy UU 9
12. Ky Eiben APU 12

MEN FINAL:
Place, name, team, bib
1. Snorri Einarsson UU 14
2. Even Sletten UU 1
3. Kevin Hochtl Rossignol 2
4. Marshall Greene XC Oregon/Madshus 3
5. Brian Gregg CXC/Salomon 11
6. David Chamberlain MWSC 12
7. Colin Rodgers SVSEF/Fischer-Craft 5
8. Brayton Osgood XC Oregon/Fiscer-Craft 17
9. Tyson Flaharty APU 15
10. Matt Liebsch CXC/Salomon 4
11. Bernhard Roenning MSU 13
12. Brenton Knight APU 6

WOMEN, QUALIFIER:
Name, Bib, Place, Time, Team, Time behind leader, Age, Place, Category, Place in category

RONSSE, Katie 6 1 3:42.36 University of Denver 0 22 WS 1
WILLIAMS, Lindsay 2 2 3:42.45 USST/NMU +0.09 23 WS 2
VALAAS, Laura 1 3 3:42.79 USST/APUNSC +0.43 23 WS 3
STRANDBERG, Kristina 19 4 3:43.31 Factory Team/XC Oregon +0.95 32 WS 4
RICE, Kasandra 17 5 3:44.27 APUNSC +1.91 24 WS 5
RORABAUGH, Becca 8 6 3:47.35 APUNSC +4.99 18 WJ 1
ARDUSER, Kate 16 7 3:47.45 Rossignol/APU +5.09 28 WS 6
STURSOVA, Martina 13 8 3:47.86 Rossignol +5.50 28 WS 7
MACCARTHY, Sarah 12 9 3:48.25 University of Utah +5.89 20 WS 8
DEHLIN, Lindsey 5 10 3:49.37 USST/NMU +7.01 23 WS 9
CAMENISCH, Karin 10 11 3:50.69 Rossignol +8.33 27 WS 10
EIBEN, Ky 9 12 3:56.44 APUNSC +14.08 19 WJ 2
WEBER, Audrey 20 13 3:56.96 Dartmouth +14.60 21 WS 11
KIESEL, Kaelin 22 14 3:57.06 MSU +14.70 22 WS 12
MANNIX, Tazlina 3 15 3:57.48 APU/USST +15.12 21 WS 13
DOLAN, Kate 14 16 3:58.53 BSF +16.17 17 WJ 3
TEIEN, Karoline 41 17 3:58.99 MSU +16.63 21 WS 14
DONG, Evelyn 23 18 4:01.74 The Factory Team +19.38 22 WS 15
OPEL, Fraiser 40 19 4:01.83 MSU +19.47 21 WS 16
OWEN, Kristina 26 20 4:02.93 CXC +20.57 23 WS 17
CARLSON, Ase 32 21 4:04.40 BSF +22.04 18 WJ 4
RENNIE, Claire 43 22 4:04.63 MSU +22.27 22 WS 18
FLOWERS, Erika 11 23 4:10.02 BSF +27.66 18 WJ 5
SELLEGREN, Gretchen 7 24 4:10.34 BSF +27.98 17 WJ 6
SCHMIDT, Kalysta 15 25 4:10.83 APU +28.47 19 WJ 7
BOWDEN, Mandy 38 26 4:12.09 +29.73 23 WS 19
MARKVARDSEN, Monica 24 27 4:12.70 Black Jack Ski Club +30.34 16 WJ 8
PARK, Melina 4 28 4:13.39 MSU +31.03 20 WS 20
GILL, Katie 21 29 4:13.51 BSF +31.15 15 WJ 9
SEIBERT, Casey 18 30 4:15.15 BSF +32.79 17 WJ 10
HOWE, Stephanie 33 31 4:16.85 BSF +34.49 24 WS 21
HARTLEY, Sarah 29 32 4:19.43 +37.07 19 WJ 11
CASEY, Margaret 42 33 4:20.19 MSU +37.83 22 WS 22
DOMINICK, Sarah 28 34 4:20.90 MWSC +38.54 35 WS 23
FLOWERS, Natalie 27 35 4:24.20 BSF +41.84 16 WJ 12
BALDWIN, Kara 36 36 4:24.75 BSF +42.39 15 WJ 13
FORREST, Samantha 137 37 4:32.54 BSF +50.18 16 WJ 14
RYDELL, Johanna 31 38 4:50.17 BSF +1:07.81 14 WJ 15
HICKMAN, Maggie 35 39 4:50.42 BSF +1:08.06 14 WJ 16
HEAGNEY, Carrie 39 40 4:51.95 BSF +1:09.59 16 WJ 17
GREENE, Alexandra 34 41 5:25.40 BSF +1:43.04 14 WJ 18
STEITZ, Korie 25 DNS MSU 20 WS
TUTTLE, Laura 30 DNS MSU 19 WJ

MEN QUALIFIER:
Name, Bib, Place, Time, Team, Time behind leader, Age, Place, Category, Place in category

SLETTEN, Even 90 1 3:04.70 University of Utah 0 22 MS 1
HOCHTL, Kevin 69 2 3:05.20 Rossignol +0.50 28 MS 2
GREENE, Marshall 67 3 3:09.27 Alpina/XC Oregon +4.57 26 MS 3
LIEBSCH, Matt 77 4 3:09.75 CXC +5.05 24 MS 4
RODGERS, Colin 64 5 3:09.76 Sun Valley SEF/ Fischer Craft +5.06 26 MS 5
KNIGHT, Brenton 96 6 3:11.14 APUNSC +6.44 23 MS 6
FOLLERAAS, Anders 94 7 3:11.67 MSU +6.97 21 MS 7
KUZZY, Garrott 68 8 3:11.71 CXC +7.01 25 MS 8
HAUGEN, Anders 65 9 3:11.77 Rossignol/APUNSC +7.07 27 MS 9
KRISTIANSEN, Gunnar 78 10 3:12.22 MSU +7.52 23 MS 10
GREGG, Brian 73 11 3:12.23 CXC +7.53 23 MS 11
CHAMBERLAIN, David 74 12 3:12.26 MWSC +7.56 22 MS 12
ROENNING, Bernhard 87 13 3:12.42 MSU +7.72 22 MS 13
EINARSSON, Snorri 89 14 3:12.71 University of Utah +8.01 21 MS 14
FLAHARTY, Tyson 70 15 3:12.81 APUNSC +8.11 22 MS 15
SCOTT, Ryan 88 16 3:12.94 MSU +8.24 18 MJ 1
OSGOOD, Brayton 66 17 3:13.47 Fischer-Craft +8.77 26 MS 16
SOUTHAM, James 63 18 3:14.24 Rossignol/APU +9.54 29 MS 17
IVERSON, Mark 76 19 3:15.87 Rossignol/SSWSC +11.17 25 MS 18
ENMAN, Eli 80 20 3:15.99 Rossignol +11.29 30 MS 19
DENGEL, Barton 75 21 3:16.60 APU +11.90 22 MS 20
NANEY, Samuel 79 22 3:17.61 Cougar Mountain Racing Project +12.91 23 MS 21
CASE, Ian 82 23 3:18.60 Salomon/Swix/Craftsbury Nordic +13.90 26 MS 22
GIESE, Chad 72 24 3:20.99 Factory Team +16.29 21 MS 23
WATT, Andre 86 25 3:21.08 CXC +16.38 26 MS 24
ITO, Daichi 108 26 3:21.19 MSU +16.49 20 MS 25
HAVLICK, Ian 81 27 3:21.95 University of Utah +17.25 19 MJ 2
CARTWRIGHT, George 97 28 3:22.42 Lander Wy +17.72 16 MJ 3
WRIGHT, Tyler 93 29 3:26.31 MSU +21.61 19 MJ 4
BARD, Joey 105 30 3:27.94 MWSC +23.24 17 MJ 5
KLING, Peter 95 31 3:28.00 APUNSC +23.30 20 MS 26
VIAVANT, Sam 109 32 3:28.27 MSU +23.57 20 MS 27
FICK, Ben 92 33 3:28.47 University of Utah +23.77 19 MJ 6
MATTESON, Michael 91 34 3:31.40 APUNSC +26.70 19 MJ 7
PARK, Nathan 85 35 3:33.32 MSU +28.62 23 MS 28
RULSEH, Jonathon 110 36 3:37.20 TST +32.50 23 MS 29
BROMLEY, Luke 101 37 3:38.63 High Plains +33.93 16 MJ 8
WESTESEN, Ben 100 38 3:38.77 BSF +34.07 16 MJ 9
PEDERSEN, Eliah 99 39 3:42.02 +37.32 18 MJ 10
MORGAN, Jake 106 40 3:42.78 BSF +38.08 17 MJ 11
WIEGAND, Tanner 104 41 3:44.49 BSF +39.79 15 MJ 12
KARATH, Lander 98 42 3:46.69 BSF +41.99 16 MJ 13
MEYER, Cory 107 43 3:57.67 BSF +52.97 19 MJ 14
MAIFELD-CARUCCI, Ak 102 44 3:58.34 BSF +53.64 14 MJ 15
MEYER, Will 103 45 4:05.36 BSF +1:00.66 14 MJ 16
SIMONS, Zack 71 DNS Rossignol 26 MS
ANDERSON, Erik 83 DNS Glacier Nordic Ski Team 18 MJ
ZIMMERMANN, Leif 84 DNS USST/BSF 24 MS