PRESQUE ISLE – Three Maine Winter Sports Center athletes turned in top times during the first day of three in the biathlon trials for the U.S. World Junior team Thursday at the MWSC’s Nordic Heritage Center.

MWSC’s Newt Rogers and Russell Currier were first and second, respectively, in the youth men’s division and Annelies Cook was leading the junior women competition.

Rogers had given everything he had in the race. He fell to the ground, taking nearly a minute to get his breath, before standing and skiing away after he crossed the finish line.

Rogers turned in a time of 22 minutes and 48.2 seconds over the 7.5-kilometer course while Currier finished in 23:18.4. Cook’s first-place time was 25:53.

Seventy-two young people from across the northern tier of the United States are battling for 16 open slots on the U.S. teams that will compete at the Biathlon World Championships at Finland in two weeks.

The biathletes are competing in three races here, one more each on Saturday and Sunday.

The 16 qualifiers will be announced after the final competition on Sunday. There will be four each in the men’s and women’s youth and four each in the men’s and women’s junior divisions.

Competitors in the youth division, male and female, are under 18 years. Junior skiers are 19 and 20-year-olds.

Thursday morning’s race was held under bright sunny skies with little wind and temperatures around 20 degrees.

There were few fans at the event Thursday. Organizers hoped for better attendance on Saturday and Sunday when people are off from work.

In March, 2006 the Junior World Biathlon Championships will be held here.

The youths competing Thursday came from Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, New York and Alaska.

“This is absolutely great to see our own young people in these competitions,” Andy Shepard, CEO of the MWSC, said. “All of them will be competing for spots on next year’s team that will compete here.

“Next year is a chance for our own athletes to have home court advantage on a world stage,” Shepard added. “It’s great to see this just a few years after the Maine Winter Sports Center was started.”

Shepard said biathletes competing and training under the MWSC flag have come a long way in just the few short years that the biathlon facilities have been in Maine.

The times used to select the American members of the team going to Finland allows the athletes to throw out their worst finishes of the three races. The times of their best two performances will be used in the final team selection.

Also being held at the Presque Isle biathlon venue, at the same time as the youth and junior races, is a running of the North American Cup Series. Some of those are held in the east and west several times each season.

Senior competitors vie for points to determine senior members of the U.S. Biathlon Teams.

Races at the Nordic Heritage Center will continue Saturday and Sunday starting at 10 a.m.