Sports

APU nordic skiers sweep national sprint championship

The day before Holly Brooks led Alaska Pacific University to a sweep of the women's medals Sunday at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Rumford, Maine, a bunch of APU skiers prepared for the race by checking out the course.

"We were dressed in our matching Spandex and pink uniform tops and doing short intervals on critical sections of the course to see how it would feel to race them in a pack," said team member Katie Ronsse, a Service High graduate. "Afterwards, (coach Erik Flora) said he overheard a junior skier say, 'Wow, the APU team looks like so much fun.' "

A day later, onlookers were really wowed.

Led by gold-medalist Brooks -- an APU coach who last season became an Olympic racer -- skiers from the Alaska Pacific nordic program grabbed all three medals awarded in the women's race Sunday when the national championships began with a classic sprint race.

Morgan Smyth claimed silver, Sadie Bjornsen took bronze and Ronsse just missed a spot on the podium.

Four of the six women's finalists wore APU colors, giving the finals the look and feel of a day at practice for the Alaskans.

"We were joking beforehand that it looked like an APU interval session," Ronsee said.

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"To line up for the finals at nationals with three of your teammates, you couldn't ask for anything better," said Bjornsen.

Though the Alaska men didn't claim any medals, they claimed half of the available spots in the six-man finals, won by U.S. Ski Team member Torin Koos of Leavenworth, Wash.

Erik Bjornsen, Sadie's brother and a skier for UAA out of Winthrop, Wash., finished fourth. Two-time Olympian Lars Flora of APU was fifth and Eric Packer of the Alaska Winter Stars was sixth.

The day marked a terrific start for Alaskans at the four-race series that will help determine the U.S. team for next month's World Championships in Norway.

"It sets an awesome tone for the week," Smyth said.

Few were more awe-inspiring than Brooks, who flat-out schooled the competition.

"I never saw Holly past the start line," Smyth said. "She dominated."

Brooks won the 1.4-kilometer final by about 10 seconds, a huge margin in such a short race. She used her strength on uphills to build a big gap going into a double-pole finish.

"Someone yelled near the end that I could slow down, but in my mind there was no way. I don't even think I raised my arms going across the finish," Brooks said. "You can't take anything for granted in a sprint race."

Placing second to Brooks was Eliska Hajkova, a University of Colorado skier from the Czech Republic. Because Hajkova is a foreigner, she isn't eligible to win a medal at the U.S. championships, so the silver medal went to third-place Smyth and the bronze went to fourth-place Bjornsen.

Impressive as that showing was for APU, the team isn't even at full strength.

APU's Kikkan Randall, the three-time Olympian who won all five races at last year's national championships, isn't competing in Maine this week. She's one of three Americans racing in the Tour de Ski in Europe, where on Sunday she finished 17th in a sprint race in Germany and is in 19th place overall through three stages of the eight-race series.

The victory marked the first national championship for Brooks, a popular junior-level coach when she isn't training with APU's elite skiers. She came from seemingly nowhere last winter to clinch a spot on the Olympic team, but now no one can afford to look past her. Brooks was a dominant force in early season North American races, doing so well that she climbed to No. 2, behind Randall, in the U.S. Skiing Association's national rankings.

And now she has a gold medal hanging around her neck.

"It's just a wonderful feeling. My first national championship. I'm just kind of overcome with happiness," Brooks said.

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4335.

A day off

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Skiers at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Rumford, Maine, will get an extra day off between races thanks to warm weather that is deteriorating conditions.

The 10-kilometer and 15-kilometer classic races scheduled for Tuesday will be held Wednesday instead, giving officials time to make and move snow.

U.S. Cross Country Championships

Rumford, Maine

Sunday's classic sprint

Women's finals -- 1) Holly Brooks (APU), 2) Eliska Hajkova, 3) Morgan Smyth (APU), 4) Sadie Bjornsen (APU), 5) Katie Ronsse (APU), 6) Sophie Caldwell. Other Alaska finishers in top 30 -- 10) Kate Fitzgerald, APU; 11) Becca Rorabaugh, APU; 13) Nicole Deyong, Sun Valley; 15) Lauren Fritz (Middlebury); 16) Marion Woods (Alaska Winter Stars); 28) Ky Eiben, APU; 30) Annie Liotta (AWS).

Men's finals -- 1) Torin Koos, 2) Michael Sinnott, 3) Skyler Davis, 4) Erik Bjornsen (UAA), 5) Lars Flora (APU), 6) Eric Packer, Alaska Winter Stars. Other Alaska finishers in top 30 -- 8) Tyler Kornfield (UAF), 9) Mark Iverson (APU), 12) Brent Knight; 22) Peter Kling (APU); 23) Logan Hanneman, 26) Reese Hanneman (APU), 27) David Norris.

By BETH BRAGG

bbragg@adn.com

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