Kris Freeman, Kikkan Randall Outsprint The Field Again

Kris Freeman and Kikkan Randall are now two for two in Sprint races this year. Both skiers repeated their Fairbanks wins today in Anchorage. Today's race was a classic sprint, held at the base of Alyeska Ski Resort on man-made snow because the Anchorage trails do not have sufficient coverage yet. Thanks go out to the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage and the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center for making these races happen at all.

Freeman, not usually known for his sprint results, showed dominating form on a course that was well-suited for him. The course was basically an extremely demanding 3 minute climb followed by a screaming S-turn downhill to the finish. This was not a race for tactics or last minute kicks - it was all about hammering up the hill. Freeman showed that he can hammer up the hills better than anyone in North America, especially in classic technique. I skied with Kris on his warm-down after his victory, and he said that this course was perfectly suited for him: "I couldn't design a better sprint course for me." Freeman's US Ski Team mates Torin Koos and Andrew Newell took second and third , while Chris Cook (Atomic) was fourth in the final.

In the women's race, Kikkan Randall (APUNSC) also dominated. Racing in front of a hometown crowd, she battled up the hill in the final alongside Karin Camenisch (Rossignol) and Wendy Wagner (Atomic). Wendy fell off the pace about halfway up, and Kikkan was able to gap Karin by the top. Burke Mtn. Academy skier Liz Stephen was fourth in the final.

Because of the long climb, most of the races lacked drama. There were a few spills on the fast and tricky downhill, including Adam Verrier in the quarterfinals. Verrier was leading Andy Newell at the time. Newell himself fell in the final, when he was solidly in third place. Newell broke a pole in his crash and had to fight to the finish line to beat out Cook who was closing in fast with his glide from the downhill.

Tomorrow's race will be a 5K/10K free technique race on a slightly extended version of the same loop. Freeman says that the guy to look out for tomorrow is Andrew Johnson. Johnson did not race today, so he is fresh. He also possesses a "very smooth" V1 stride that will be put to good use on the long hill.

Full Results and pictures coming later.


Women:

1) Kikkan Randall
2) Karen Camenisch
3) Wendy Wagner
4) Liz Stephen
5) Alison Crocker
6) Kate Pearson
6) Tazlina Mannix
8) Rachael Steer

Men:

1) Kris Freeman
2) Torin Koos
3) Andrew Newel
4) Chris Cook
5) Colin Roger
6) Justin Easter
7) Eli Enman
8) Zach Violett



Prelim Results:

Place	Bib	First	Last	Sex	Class	Club	Time	
1	2	Kikkan	Randall	F	Senior	APUNSC/APUNSC/APUNSC	04:33.3	
2	3	Karin	Camenisch	F	Senior	Rossignol/BSF	04:47.1	
3	7	Tazlina	Mannix	F	OJ	APUNSC/Alaska Pacifi	04:57.4	
4	19	Shayla	Swanson	F	Senior	BSF	05:00.8	
5	14	Alison	Crocker	F	Senior	Dartmouth	05:01.0	
6	21	Liz	Stephen	F	OJ	Burke Mountain Acade	05:02.8	
7	15	Kate	Pearson	F	Senior	Rossignol//Alaska Wi	05:06.3	
8	26	Morgan	Arritola	F	OJ	Sun Valley	05:07.5	
9	4	Erin	Hood	F	Senior	APUNSC	05:07.9	
10	5	kate	whitcomb	F	Senior	MWSC / FSx	05:08.5	
11	44	kelly	milligan	F	M3	torbjorn sport//the 	05:10.2	
12	1	Wendy	Wagner	F	M1	Atomic	05:10.6	
13	12	Caitlin	Compton	F	Senior	Subaru Factory Team/	05:13.1	
14	9	Aubrey	Smith	F	Senior	Atomic	05:13.3	
15	6	Hilary	Patzer	F	Senior	Rossignol	05:15.3	
16	52	Rachel	Steer	F	Senior	AK Winter Stars//AK 	05:17.4	
17	18	Abigail	Larson	F	Senior	Subaru Factory Team	05:19.7	
18	25	Nicole	DeYong	F	Senior	UAA	05:19.9	
19	8	Laura	valaas	F	Senior	Whitman College	05:20.4	
20	46	Amy	Glen	F	J2	West/Steller/Alaska 	05:22.4	
21	51	Kristina	Strandberg	F	M1	Subaru Factory Team	05:24.5	
22	10	Ida	Sargent	F	J1	Burke Mountain Acade	05:24.6	
23	36	Brittany	Greer	F	OJ	UAA	05:28.5	
24	37	Jaime	Bronga	F	J2	ANR/East High/NSAA	05:31.4	
25	16	Krista	Rader	F	Senior	UAA	05:32.2	
26	23	Ky	Eiben	F	J1	Service High School/	05:32.7	
27	33	Hanna	Johnson	F	J1	alaska winter stars/	05:33.7	
28	20	Corey	Coogan	F	Senior	Alpina	05:38.1	
29	48	Caitlin	Patterson	F	J2	AWS/South Anchorage	05:40.2	
30	17	Carolyn	Treacy	F	Senior		05:41.0	
31	27	Aleta	Phelps	F	OJ	Alaska Pacific Unive	05:43.0	
32	28	Kristina	Smith	F	Senior	UAA Nordic Ski Team/	05:49.2	
33	30	Alice	Nelson	F	OJ	Burke Mtn. Academy/B	05:51.7	
34	13	Kasandra	Rice	F	Senior	UAA	05:53.7	
35	40	Rachelle	Kanady	F	J1	AK Winter Stars / We	05:55.1	
36	11	Anna	McLoon	F	Senior	Atomic/ Go!Training	05:55.2	
37	49	Heidi	Rogers	F	J2	Alaska Winter Stars/	06:08.7	
38	31	Lauren	Fritz	F	J1	Eagle River/APUNSC	06:09.0	
39	47	Alison	Butler	F	J2	AK Winter Stars	06:09.8	
40	22	Camilla	Brinchmann	F	Senior	Alpina/Madshus	06:13.1	
41	45	Megan	Ryan	F	J2	Service/Alaska Winte	06:23.8	
42	50	Sarah	Tegeler	F	J1	ERNTC	06:38.0	
								
	24	Tara	Sheahan	F	M4	Fischer Select		
	29	Elizabeth	Habermann	F	OJ	University of Alaska		
	32	Julia	Coulter	F	OJ	University of Alaska		
	34	Janna	Widness	F	J1	Alaska Winter Stars/		
	35	Johanna	Turunen	F	Senior	University of Alaska		
	38	Tamra	Kornfield	F	Senior	University of Alaska		
	39	Diane	Tremblay	F	M2	Atomic		
	41	Krynn	Finstad	F	Senior	University of Alaska		
	42	Judy	Klautt	F	M4			
	43	Laurel	Renkert	F	J1			
								
Place	Bib	Name	Name	Sex	Class		Time	
1	62	Torin	Koos	M	Senior	USST	03:50.8	
2	72	Kris	Freeman	M	Senior	USST	03:52.8	
3	61	Andrew	Newell	M	Senior	USST	03:55.7	
4	63	Chris	Cook	M	Senior	Atomic//Sun Valley	03:57.2	
5	80	Andrew	Hunter	M	Senior	APUNSC	03:59.9	
6	85	Justin	Easter	M	Senior	Subaru Factory Team/	04:02.7	
7	91	Zachary	Violett	M	Senior	FSx	04:03.8	
8	113	Brent	Knight	M	Senior	UAA	04:05.7	
9	67	colin	rodgers	M	Senior	MWSC/ FSx//MWSC/ FSx	04:06.9	
10	64	Chad	Giese	M	Senior	Subaru Factory Team	04:07.4	
11	68	Kevin	Hochtl	M	Senior	Team Rossignol/Vail	04:08.6	
12	94	Eli	Enman	M	Senior	Rossignol	04:09.0	
13	81	Brayton	Osgood	M	Senior	MWSC/Alpina-Madshus	04:09.5	
14	89	Adam	Verrier	M	M2	Atomic Team/GNBC/NSA	04:10.1	
15	65	Steve	Scott	M	Senior	Maine Winter Sports 	04:10.4	
16	95	Justin	Freeman	M	Senior	Fischer/Salomon	04:10.8	
17	82	Marshall	Greene	M	Senior	Alpina/Madshus//XC O	04:12.4	
18	99	Patrick	Johnson	M	J1	Alaska Winter Stars/	04:12.6	
19	71	Colin	Mahood	M	Senior	XC-Oregon	04:13.4	
20	118	Kjetil Hagtvedt	Dammen	M	Senior	UAA	04:14.0	
21	70	Anders	Haugen	M	Senior	TorbjornSport/Fische	04:14.1	
22	84	casey	ward	M	Senior	Alpina//Aspen Valley	04:14.5	
23	66	Leif	Zimmermann	M	Senior	BSF/Alpina Racing	04:16.4	
24	110	Eric	Packer	M	J2	Alaska Winter Stars/	04:16.8	
25	101	Benjamin	Sonntag	M	Senior	UAA	04:17.6	
26	97	Jackson	Harris	M	OJ	Sun Valley	04:20.2	
27	116	Jens	Johansson	M	M2	MWSC	04:21.0	
28	104	Owen	Hanley	M	Senior	Team Rossignol	04:21.8	
29	106	Brian	Gregg	M	Senior	UAA	04:23.0	
30	103	Jan	Spurkland	M	Senior	XC Oregon//XC Oregon	04:25.4	
31	124	Eric	Strabel	M	Senior	UAA	04:25.4	
32	100	Paul	Schauer	M	Senior	UAA	04:27.6	
33	77	Robert	Whitney	M	Senior	Subaru Factory Team	04:29.3	
34	112	Zachary	Wetherell	M	OJ	Burke Mtn. Academy	04:37.0	
35	119	Tyler	Kornfield	M	J2	Service High/AK Wint	04:38.8	
36	121	Benji	Uffenbeck	M	Senior		04:40.0	
37	107	Steven	Buklis	M	J1	Alaska Winter Stars/	04:40.5	
38	88	Max	Treinen	M	J1	West Anchorage High 	04:43.5	
39	79	Erik	Jacobson	M	Senior	XC Oregon/Fischer	04:43.7	
40	102	Ryan	McClure	M	Senior	AK Winter Stars	04:45.2	
41	98	Lex	Treinen	M	J2	West High/AWS	04:47.2	
42	115	Andrew	Dougherty	M	J2	Alaska Winter Stars/	04:48.0	
43	96	Casey	Fagerquist	M	Senior	UAA	04:49.1	
44	128	Lukas	Stutzer	M	J1	Alaska WInter Stars/	04:50.2	
45	117	Cole	Talbot	M	J2	AK Winter Stars/Serv	04:57.7	
46	125	Chris	Wood	M	M1	Alaska Winter Stars	05:03.3	
47	127	William	Ross	M	J1	Alaska Winter Stars/	05:04.3	
48	111	Colin	Singleton	M	J1	ERNTC	05:06.5	
49	122	Eric	Ryan	M	J3	AWS/Goldenview/AK Wi	05:07.0	
50	109	Drew	Cason	M	OJ	West High	05:09.3	
51	120	Seth	Downs	M	M2	APUNSC	05:11.5	
52	150	Nick	Treinen	M	J2	Romig Middle School/	05:22.9	
53	129	Scott	Patterson	M	J3	Alaska Winter Stars	05:31.5	
54	114	Chester	Fehrmann	M	Senior	APUNSC	05:35.2	
55	123	Brian	Kirchner	M	J1	South High/AK Winter	06:31.2	
	69	Andrew	Johnson	M	Senior	USST		
	73	David	Chamberlain	M	M1	Atomic		
	74	David	Stewart	M	Senior	FSx/XC Oregon//XC Or		
	75	tom	keefe	M	Senior	MWSC//MWSC		
	76	Tim	Woodbury	M	Senior	XC Oregon/Rossignol/		
	78	Mark	Iverson	M	Senior	Montana State Univer		
	83	Tyson	Flaharty	M	Senior	University of Alaska		
	86	Nate	Berry	M	OJ	Montana State Univer		
	87	Bart	Dengel	M	Senior	University of Alaska		
	90	Anders	Gillis	M	OJ	NSCF / West Valley H		
	92	Nathan	Schultz	M	M1	FSx//Boulder Nordic		
	93	Lucas	Pletcher	M	OJ	Sun Valley		
	105	Marius	Korthauer	M	Senior	UAF		
	108	Jonas	Tetlie	M	Senior	University of Alaska		

Kikkan Randall leads Wendy Wagner in the women's semifinal

Men's final - Torin Koos on left, Kris Freeman on right