Last Updated: 01.Apr.2019

This past weekend the full GRP biathlon crew as well as some Craftsbury junior biathletes competed at US Biathlon Nationals in Jericho, Vermont. 

Sprint:

The three-day Championship event kicked off with a sprint. The GRP women cleaned the senior race with Susan Dunklee on the top step of the podium followed by Clare Egan in second, only 0.3 seconds back, and Kelsey Dickinson in third. Kelsey and Clare only had one miss each. Hallie Grossman was the next GRP finisher in 5th with two misses and Emily Dreissigacker placed 6th with three misses. While the women left big shoes to fill, the GRP men were up for the challenge with Jake Brown taking the win with two misses. Alex Howe also had a strong race finishing 5th with 3 misses. Raleigh Goessling finished 8th also with three misses and junior biathlon coach Ethan Dreissigacker placed 12th. 

In the junior womens race, former Craftsbury junior (and current William’s College skier) Marika Massey-Bierman raced her way onto the podium in third. She was followed by GRP rower Jenny Mcilvane in fourth. In the youth mens race, Bjorn Westervelt placed first. In the U15 girls race, Amelia Circosta raced her way onto the top tier of the podium while her brother Leo Circosta also had a strong race placing 5th in the U15 boys race.

Pursuit:

In the following day’s pursuit event, Susan defended her position once again racing her onto the top of the podium with seven misses. Hallie moved up into second and Kelsey defended her third place position for another GRP podium sweep. Emily placed 5th and Hannah Dreissigacker came out of retirement to place 7th. Clare sat out the race due to illness. For the men, Jake stayed on the podium in second with four misses while Alex and Raleigh maintained their positions in 5th and 8th respectively each with 7 misses. Ethan moved up to 10th place with 6 misses. 

In the junior womens race, Jenny moved up onto the podium in third. Bjorn Westervelt finished second in the youth mens race. Continuing the podium trend were Amelia and Ruth Krebs who finished an impressive first and third respectively in the U15 girls race. In the U15 boys event, Leo placed 5th closely followed by Charlie Krebs in 6th. 

Super Sprint:

For the senior athletes, the final event of the National Championship weekend, and the season as a whole, was the Super Sprint. Susan made it three-for-three with her third win of the weekend. Clare made a comeback and placed second with clean shooting and Emily raced her way onto the podium in third, with only one miss, for the third GRP women’s podium sweep in as many races. Kelsey also had a strong race placing 4th with 2 misses and Hallie finished 9th. For the men, Jake finished 6th with Alex closely behind in 7th. Raleigh and Ethan placed 9th and 13th respectively. 

Mass Start:

The Craftsbury juniors finished up their weekend with a mass start event. Jenny raced her way onto the podium in third for the second day in a row in the junior womens race while in the youth mens race, Bjorn ended the season on a high note with another win. In the U15 girls race, Amelia placed second and Ruth 6th while in the boys race their brothers, Leo and Charlie, finished 4th and 5th respectively. 

And that, my friends, concludes the biathlon racing season! Thank you for following and have a great spring!

Results:

Sprint | Pursuit | Super Sprint | Mass Start