Yarmouth biathlete holds first Shepard in good shape at U.S. Junior meet

FORT KENT – Barring any unforeseen problems during the last leg of the U.S. Junior Biathlon Championships during a relay race on Thursday, Maine’s Walt Shepard is headed to the world championship in Siberia in March.

Shepard, an 18-year-old from Yarmouth, blazed through 12.5 kilometers of racing and four stints of shooting Wednesday to become the first male junior competitor to cross the finish line, 90 seconds ahead of Anders Osthus of Duluth, Minn.

Shepard was second in the sprint competitions Monday, 2.3 seconds behind first-place Brian Olsen of Bloomington, Minn. On Wednesday, Shepard missed only three of 20 targets on the biathlon range.

In first place in the junior women’s pursuit competition Wednesday was Tracy Barnes of Durango, Colo., who was also first in the sprint competition Monday. In second place was Annelies Cook of Saranac Lake, N.Y., a little more than four minutes behind Barnes.

In the men’s youth division, Ray Evan of St. Paul, Minn., was one minute, 22 seconds faster than Ben Byrne of Grand Rapids, Minn. In the girls division, Syverine Abrahamson of Homer, Alaska, was first, nearly 42 seconds ahead of Missy Gadacz of Elk River, Minn.

Kelsey Bouchard, a 16-year-old sophomore at Community High School in Fort Kent, faltered Wednesday after coming in first Monday in the sprint competitions. She came in fifth Wednesday in the pursuit race, mostly because she miscounted the number of penalty laps she had to run. She ran five penalty laps instead of four, losing about 30 seconds in the race. Thirty seconds quicker would have put her in third place.

A couple of hundred spectators, including students from SAD 27 at Fort Kent and SAD 1 at Presque, were on hand despite the biting cold temperatures and biting winds which whipped the biathlon range Wednesday. Temperatures ranged between 2 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and 5 degrees above zero during the competitions. Fifteen mph winds whipped through the area at the time.

Wednesday was the second day of three days of competition in the championships. The top two men and top three women in the competitions will represent the United States in the world championship next month, in Siberia for the men and in Sweden for the women.

“This was possibly the best race of my career, so far,” a still-elated Shepard said minutes after winning. “I just felt really good this morning, totally calm coming into the first shooting stage, which I cleaned.

“I was really positive starting out. My mental attitude was at the top and my stress level was way down. I prepared well for this. I just felt ready, and I went out and did it.”

Shepard only missed three targets of the 20 he had to shoot in the five-stage pursuit race. The Oreo cookie-size targets are 160 feet from the shooters. For each target missed by a biathlete, a penalty loop, which takes 20-25 seconds, must be skied before re-entering the next 2.5-kilometer loop of the race.

The pursuit races run Wednesday had five 2.5-kilometer loops.

“Walt had a really good race today, especially if you consider the wind we had,” said Vladimir Cervenka, coach of the eight Maine biathletes competing under the blue and gold colors of the Maine Winter Sports Center. “He used his head, and did very well tactically out there today.”

“His shooting was also outstanding,” Cervenka said. “That means a lot because it means less lost time on the penalty loop.”

Cervenka said the miscalculation by Bouchard, who was in her first championship biathlon race, was due to inexperience. It cost the young girl deeply.

“She is doing extremely well for her first year,” Cervenka said of Bouchard. “She will be racing more and her experience will count later on.” he said.

“She will do well in the relay race tomorrow,” Cervenka said. “I know she will be up for it and do well, despite the disappointment of today.”

“I’m disappointed, but I am still confident of making the top three women in the youth division,” Bouchard said. “I really want to go to Sweden to represent the United States.”

“It was not a nice day to race, the wind was fierce, and it was throwing off my shooting,” the young woman said. “Hopefully the weather will be better for me tomorrow, and I expect to do well in the relay race.”

This is Bouchard’s first year in biathlon competition and only her second year of competing in cross-country racing.

Shepard, on the other hand, has been skiing for 16 of his 18 years. He is in his fifth year in biathlon competition, and is representing the Maine Winter Sports Center for the first time this year. Last year he skied the year in Sweden.

In Thursday’s relay competitions, each biathlete will be shooting twice between racing three 2.5-kilometer loops. While it is a team competition, each biathlete is also scored individually.

It is the second year that the Maine Winter Sports Center venue at Fort Kent has hosted the U.S. Junior Championships. Last year, the competition came to Fort Kent because of the lack of snow at Lake Placid, N.Y.