Three Aroostook County natives who are former members of the U.S. junior national biathlon team, along with six other athletes from northern Maine, will start competition Friday for a chance to return to the team that will compete in the world junior championships.

Newt Rogers of Fort Kent, Hilary McNamee of Fort Fairfield, and Russell Currier of Stockholm are in Coleraine, Minn., for the junior team trials. The top four male and female junior and youth performers will attend the world championships in Martell, Italy, next month.

The three former team members, who competed in the 2006 world junior championships at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle, will be joined by six County residents and Maine Winter Sports Center teammates.

The rest of the MWSC team is made up of Brandon Ostroot of Caribou, Meagan Toussaint of Madawaska, Joey Bard of Woodland, Andrea Mayo of Oxbow, Rose-Mary Williams of Fort Fairfield, and Grace Boutot of Fort Kent.

The team is coached by Gary Colliander and Scott Johnstone.

Friday’s competition will be a sprint, followed by a pursuit-format race Saturday and a mass-start relay Sunday.

The junior age group includes athletes born in 1986 and 1987. The youth age group includes those born in 1988 and after.

Currier, the most experienced of the Maine Winter Sports Center group, is seeking his fourth junior team berth. His top finish at a world championship came in 2004 when he was 21st in the pursuit.

He also won a national championship in a junior age group at the 2006 Junior Olympics for cross country skiing and won the Class B state high school championship in classical cross country last winter.