Coleraine, MN. Walt Shepard (Brunswick, ME), Russell Currier (Stockholm, ME), Laura Spector (Lenox, MA), and Leif Nordgren (Marine-on-St. Croix, MN) all won their second National Championship of the week in the Pursuit Format competitions at the North American/US National Championships.
Shepard continued his strong showing today with another excellent day on the shooting range at the Mount Itasca Biathlon facility. After recording one penalty in the Sprint yesterday, he came back to shoot clean in both prone stages and followed with just three penalties, in the two standing stages. He finished in 35:00.5, putting him 12.5 seconds ahead of Brendon Green (Hay River, NT Canada), who had six penalties. Third went to Zach Hall (Lake Placid, NY) of the National Development Team. Hall had the best result of his career with three penalties, 35.5 seconds back. The Bronze medal in this Senior Men’s 12.5K went to Jesse Downs (Jericho, VT) of the National Guard, with six penalties, 1:29.5 back.
Currier had the fastest time of the day over the 12.5K distance as he captured the Junior National Championship in 34:53, with six penalties. (Shepard would have had a faster time, but skied an extra penalty loop, as his final target closed so slowly that he had left the position before it recorded the hit). Wynn Roberts (Battle Lake, MN), also with six penalties was second again today, just 7.8 seconds behind Currier. Marty Smith (Steamboat Springs, CO) took third while matching Currier and Roberts on the shooting range. He finished 3:54.8 back.
For the second day in a row, Spector had the top time among all women, as she captured the Junior 10K title. She had five penalties (four prone, one standing) to finish in 34:34.3, putting her 40.9 seconds of the top Senior Woman, Ekaterina Vinogradova (Auburn, CA),who had a time of 35:15.2. Second place in Junior Women’s division went to Brynden Manbeck (Grand Rapids, MN), with three penalties, 1:49.9 back. Meagan Toussaint (Madawaska, ME) of the Maine Winter Sports Center also had three penalties, 3:19.9 back.
Vinogradova topped the Senior Women’s Division with seven penalties. Second went to Caitlin Compton (Minneapolis, MN) with ten penalties, 51.7 seconds back. Third went to Sara Studebaker (Boise, ID), with four penalties, 1:53.8 back.
World Youth medalist Nordgren won the Youth Men’s 10K today for his second title of the week. His time of 31:52 put him 47.1 seconds ahead of Ethan Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT). Nordgren had five penalties to Dreissigacker’s three. Third went to Raleigh Goessling (Duluth, MN) with 11 penalties, 3:42.9 back.
In the Youth Women’s 7.5K, Hilary McNamee (Fort Fairfield, ME) took the title over the Sprint titlist Addie Byrne (Grand Rapids, MN) in a time of 28:47 to Byrne’s 30:57.6. The MWSC athlete had five penalties, while Byrne had eight. Andrea Mayo (Winterville, ME) with five penalties was 3:50.7 back in third.
Competitions in the Master’s divisions found several repeat winners today. In the 30-39 Women, Jill Troutner (Matthews, NC) took her second covering the 7.5K in 29:50, while recording three penalties. She also won the Sprint in 21:55, with four penalties. Madeline Fairchild (Boulder, CO) placed second in both competitions.
Arminda Phillips (Seattle, WA) took both 40-49 crowns, winning the Sprint in 31:05 with three penalties and the Pursuit in 46:01, with 11 penalties. Judy Geer (Morrisville, VT) matched her in the 50 plus division, with a 28:54 victory in the Sprint with seven penalties and a 42:18 win today, with 15 penalties.
In the Men’s 30-39 division, US Biathlon Athlete Development Director Piotr Bednarski (St. Louis Park, MN) took the Sprint crown in 22:43, with three penalties, a mere three seconds ahead of Tom Moffett (Peru, NY) with one penalty. Moffett reversed the table on Bednarski today scoring a 36:57.8 win with five penalties. Bednarski finished 54.8 seconds back, with nine penalties.
Tony Carter (Coleraine, MN) captured the 40-49 title today in 36:52 with four penalties. Second went to the Sprint Champion Paul Peterson (Hastings, MN) 3:07.4 back with 14 penalties. Peterson won the Sprint in 28:03 with five penalties.
Bill Quinlan (Boulder, CO) took the Sprint and Pursuit 50 plus titles, with a 26:34 win and four penalties yesterday and a 44:52 win with 12 penalties today. Lou Chouinard (Minneapolis, MN) took second today in 45:31 with nine penalties, while John Neal (Marshfield, WI) took second in the Sprint with four penalties, 1:18 back.
Source: USBA
