McNamee has spot on youth team Fort Fairfield teen set to compete in worlds

FORT KENT – Hilary McNamee of Fort Fairfield was a bit of a surprise to make the team for the world junior and youth championships. But not to herself.

McNamee, who is in only her second year competing in biathlon, is one of four women on the youth team that will compete at the championships in Presque Isle later this month. The three-event trials for the worlds team, which was held in Minnesota last month, was her first major biathlon competition.

“I knew if I pulled it all together and got my head into it, I knew I could probably make it,” said McNamee, who is a sophomore at Fort Fairfield High. “I did go out to make it, and I did.”

The Worlds will be at the Nordic Heritage Center Jan. 30-Feb. 5. McNamee trains at that venue under Maine Winter Sports Center coach Gary Colliander.

McNamee was fourth in the sprint, which was the first event. The next day she was fourth in the pursuit and then eighth in the individual on the final day.

“On the first day, I remember thinking, I’m in fourth place. I’m still in it,” she said. “The next day it was like, whoa, I’m really in it. The next day I had to beat a couple of girls, and I did.”

Her teammates on the youth team include Brynden Manbeck of Grand Rapids, Minn., and Laura Spector of Lenox, Mass., who are both in Fort Kent this week to compete in the Olympic trials.

McNamee first started cross-country skiing as a 12-year-old and joined the MWSC team when she was in seventh grade. Every now and then she would try out a biathlon rifle.

But she got much more serious this summer during an exchange program in Kontiolahti, Finland, which was the site of the 2005 junior worlds and is a frequent World Cup host.

“That’s when I started to really shoot,” she said. “I had a coach that helped me every day and things started to fall into place.”

As with most biathlon beginners still feeling their way with a rifle, McNamee’s strength now is skiing. She dry-fires, which is practice focusing and shooting at targets without ammunition, almost every day and shoots once or twice a week, but that will likely pick up as the world championships approach.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do on shooting between now and January,” she said.

McNamee, who also skis and participates in track and field for the Fort Fairfield High team, won’t have to travel far for the world championships, although she won’t sleep in her own bed every night. The MWSC coaches have encouraged her to stay in a hotel with the rest of the team so she can get to know her teammates.

With McNamee on the team along with Russell Currier of Stockholm and Newt Rogers of Fort Kent, who are also MWSC athletes, the local competitors should have a strong cheering section.

“My school has been really supportive,” McNamee said. “I think my class is going to come out and watch, and I think there’s a group of fourth-graders that are going to be my fan club. It’s a really good first experience because of all the support.”