US Cross Country Ski Championships Preview
Seven of the Green Racing Projects skiers and seven Craftsbury Nordic Ski club juniors are currently in Houghton, Michigan, where US National Championships kick off tomorrow. The races are planned to go off at the Michigan Tech trails in Houghton where they expect hundreds of juniors, college athletes, and professional skiers to contest the four races. Besides National Championship titles, there’s a lot at stake in these races. For the CNSC athletes, the first three races are used to pick teams for World Junior Championships for U20 athletes and Scandinavian Cups for U18’s. On the senior side, all four races are chances to score points that count towards World Cup qualification, along with the earlier SuperTours.
Ben Lustgarten competing in Canmore, AB earlier this season. He’ll be repping the GRP again at US Nationals (Photo Doug Stephen)
The seven CNSC juniors competing are Aidan Casey, Finn Sweet, Griffin Wright, Camille Bolduc, Quincy Massey-Bierman, Adrienne Remick, and Abigail Streinz. Camille, Quincy, and Adrienne are all U18’s, while Abigal is a U20. On the men’s side, Finn and Aidan are still U18’s, while Griffin is a U20. The juniors are coming off of a successful Eastern Cup weekend in Waterville, Maine, where Quincy took 3rd overall in the women’s freestyle sprint and Finn finished 7th overall in the men’s sprint.
Finn Sweet in the Quarry Road Eastern Cup back in December (Photo Dave Priganc)
The Green Racing Project skiers include Caitlin Patterson, Kaitlynn Miller, Liz Guiney, Braden Becker, Ben Lustgarten, Akeo Maifeld-Carucci, and Adam Martin. Ben goes into US Nationals as the SuperTour leader, so he’ll be looking for more strong performances to cement his standing. Caitlin, Kaitlynn, Liz, Ben, and Adam have all had podium performances at previous US Nationals, so they’ll be reaching for the podium again in the upcoming races.
Race Schedule:
Thursday, January 2: Freestyle Sprint
Friday, January 3: 10/15k Freestyle Individual Start
Sunday, January 5: 20/30k Classic Mass Start for seniors, 7.5/10k Classic for juniors
Tuesday, January 7: Classic Sprint
Results and more information about the races will be available on the Michigan Tech website, and live video streaming is available (for a fee) on XCountry Live. We’ll also bring your race reports right here midway through and at the end of the Championships.