Kris Freeman, Wagner XC ski titlists

RUMFORD, Maine – Olympian Kris Freeman of Andover, N.H., led all the way in a 30-kilometer classic technique race during a snowstorm Saturday to earn his first national cross-country ski title, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of his older brother, Justin.

The younger Freeman was timed in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 7.9 seconds with his brother, 26 and four years older, gaining the silver medal at the Chevy Truck U.S. championships at Black Mountain in 1:20.57.2. Olympian Lars Flora of Anchorage, Alaska, was third in a field of 130 racers, who competed in nearly a foot of new snow.

“It was soft and pretty slow snow, but I went out hard and wanted to put some distance between me and the rest of the field,” said Kris Freeman, a former University of Vermont skier. “It was a tough course, definitely a World Championships caliber course.”

In the women’s 15K race earlier, Wendy Wagner of Park City, Utah, won her second U.S. title, finishing in 48:51.9, a minute and 10 seconds ahead of Erin Whitmer, a University of Alaska-Fairbanks student who went to college on a running scholarship and started skiing just two years ago.

A record throng of 400-plus skiers are registered for the week of racing, which will help determine berths for the World Championships, World Junior Championships and the new U-23 Championships.