FORT KENT – Maine Winter Sports Center athletes cleaned up in Saturday’s sprint races.

The U.S. titles in all three men’s sprint races were claimed by competitors with a connection to the MWSC, while the top two overall senior women have skied for the MWSC and other junior and youth women earned top finishes in the U.S. race.

“It’s apparent at these races that the Maine Winter Sports Center is critical for the development of the American biathletes,” said Yarmouth’s Walt Shepard, who was the top U.S. finisher in the senior men’s category and the son of MWSC president and chief executive officer Andy Shepard.

Walt Shepard is participating as a member of the Bowdoin College ski team but lived and trained in Fort Kent for several years.

Russell Currier of Stockholm won his second straight U.S. sprint crown, while Caribou’s Phil Willey, in just his first year of biathlon, was the top U.S. youth finisher.

Lanny Barnes, a native of Durango, Colo., had just one shooting penalty in winning the North American senior women’s title. Barnes, who along with her twin sister Tracy is now a regular at the World Cup level and was a member of the 2006 Olympic team, formerly skied for the MWSC and still trains at Fort Kent occasionally.

There were six other top-3 U.S. finishes for either current or former MWSC athletes.

New York native Annelies Cook, who now skis for the University of Utah, was second to Lanny Barnes overall in the sprint. Current MWSC skiers Hilary McNamee of Fort Fairfield and Meagan Toussaint of Madawaska were second and third, respectively, in the junior women’s race. Fort Kent’s Grace Boutot and Oxbow’s Andrea Mayo were second and third in the U.S. youth women’s race.

Bjorn Bakken, a Minnesota native and now on the University of Maine-Presque Isle ski team, was third among the U.S. senior men.

Weather conditions were tough for the sprint, with steady snow and a wind of about 15 miles per hour. Currier missed six shots but said he’d take his results considering the weather.

“It was very bad wind and I didn’t shoot as well as I wanted to, but at the same time I didn’t expect anyone else to, either,” said the 2006 Caribou High graduate. “Compared to a better day my shooting percentages were actually very similar.”

Currier’s tunnel vision

Few winter sports athletes have a chance to get on snow during their summer training, but Currier along with several other of the Maine Winter Sports Center’s cross country athletes had a chance to do that last August.

The group spent some time working out in the DNA ski tunnel in Vuokatti, Finland, a refrigerated tunnel with manmade snow. The tunnel, which is 1.2 kilometers long, was built above the ground and covered with dirt and shrubs. It follows the same path as a ski trail but is kept at a temperature of minus 5 degrees Celsius year-round.

“You get to be on snow, which is probably the biggest advantage,” Currier said. “It was a good time just to be in Europe and see what goes on over there.”

Canadian thinking about UMFK

Alexandre Dumond did more than ski and shoot last week in Fort Kent. He also got a look at the University of Maine-Fort Kent, where he’s thinking about matriculating next fall.

Dumond, a 17-year-old Ottawa resident, skis for Biathlon Ontario.

“It was nice to be here and have a competition at the same time,” he said. “I thought I’d come and check it out.”

Dumond said he had heard of the Maine Winter Sports Center and was looking for a school near a biathlon facility. The idea of skiing from the UMFK campus to the 10th Mountain Ski Center is a big draw, as is UMFK’s new cross country ski team.

“It’s beautiful here,” said Dumont, who is interested in the school’s Geographic Information Systems program. “It’s nice because it’s a small campus and the teachers seem like they know you pretty well. It’s nice when you’re working on a project and you can go to the teacher and they know exactly what you’re working on.”

After competing in the junior men’s sprint Saturday, Dumond spent a few minutes talking with UMFK president Richard Cost about the school’s programs.

Dumond said he’s also thinking about the University of Northern British Columbia, which also has a biathlon course near the school.