US Nationals - Sprints

Today was the classic sprint at the US Nationals up here in Rumford.  There is not much natural snow remaining, it rained a bit this morning, there is dirt everywhere.....not an inspiring venue.  The snowmaking that Rumford promised must have been axed from the budget because there sure wasn't much ever made.  Pretty pitiful, actually, especially for Nationals.  

That said, the racing was good as everyone rallied, got out the klister and raced hard.  CSU had 5 skiers today plus CSU alum Chris Stock.  Chris was the only one that qualified for the elimination rounds, qualifying as 7th junior (which includes all junior age groups).  In the junior semis Chris put the pedal to the metal on the 2nd hill and moved to the front, holding that position to the finish which put him into the A final.  Chris was feeling a bit tired in the final, being held only 10 min. or so after his semis heat but came home a solid 4th.  An excellent effort!   Other CSU alums were also out there including Jimmy Burnham, who foreran the course, Jackson and Hilary Rich and Olga Golovkina, who qualified for the senior elimination rounds.  Olga finished 6th in the quarter-finals and so did not advance. 

Sprint qualifier results:

48  Eli Hoenig                3:50.70
70 Chris Burnham 4:00.36

79  Hamish McEwen     4:05:51

41  Cate Brams             4:39.80
68  Hannah Smith          5:05.66

 Bob Burnham waxes

 Eli

 Check out that nice dirt behind Hannah

Cate