Freeman, Webster capture pursuit crowns

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PRESQUE ISLE – Kris Freeman was all alone when he skied into the biathlon side of the Nordic Heritage Center stadium for the first time during Thursday’s 30-kilometer men’s cross country pursuit race.

As he skied out for his second loop, Freeman looked briefly behind him. He was still alone. It was a good feeling, he admitted later.

“That’s what I was trying to do,” said the two-time U.S. Olympic team member.

By the time Freeman, the top U.S. distance racer this season, reached the finish line on the cross country side of the Nordic Heritage Center, he had so dominated the event that he was still alone – for almost a minute longer – as he won the pursuit title for the second year in a row in the USSA cross country national championships.

While Freeman blew away the rest of the men’s field early, Canadian Brittany Webster had a little more work to do in winning the overall championship in the women’s 15K pursuit under sunny, breezy skies and fair temperatures.

Webster held off Alaska’s Taz Mannix, who wound up as the U.S. champion. The top three overall finishers were the North American honorees and the top three U.S. finishers won national accolades.

Russell Currier of Stockholm, who skis for the Maine Winter Sports Center, won the men’s 10K junior race, which consisted of only two racers. Fort Kent resident Jeff Dubis took the 10K title in the four-person men’s master’s field and 12-year-old Chelsea Tremblay of Hayward, Wis., was the only entrant in the 10K junior women’s race.

After a mass start, both the men and the women skied the first half of their races in the classic technique, on classic trails. They then skied into the Nordic Heritage stadium to exchange their skis and poles, completing the second half of the race in the free skate technique, on skate trails. It’s an event the athletes call a duathlon.

The top three overall finishers in the men’s and women’s races took home cash prizes, including $1,200 for the winner, and a bag of Aroostook County potatoes.

By the time Freeman made it through the first of three classic loops he had about 45 seconds on a chase pack that included Canadians Alex Harvey, Chris Butler and Brent McMurtry, and U.S. racers Torin Koos, Lars Flora and Garrott Kuzzy. Harvey eventually pulled away, finishing 53.9 seconds behind Freeman’s time of 1 hour, 12 minutes, 23.6 seconds, while Kuzzy outsprinted Butler for third in the final stretch. Freeman, Kuzzy and Koos were the U.S. winners.

“I went out hard along the striding sections,” said Freeman, who has now won seven U.S. long distance and sprint titles in his career. “I just put in little surges. Once you break contact with the pack it’s easier to ski away.”

The 18-year-old Harvey pulled away from the pack in the skate leg. Kuzzy, who skis for CXC of Hayward, Wis., wasn’t able to shake Butler until the end, even as Butler tried to take an outside lane on the finish-line approach.

“I tried to put a move on him on the last climb,” said Kuzzy, who had never before been in the top three at nationals. “He was able to stick with me so I just held him off long enough to take the sprint at the finish.”

No one dominated the women’s race until Webster finally shook Mannix with about one kilometer left in the skate leg. A pack that included Canadian Dasha Gaiazova, Webster, 2006 U.S. Olympians Lindsey Weier and Lindsay Williams, and Liz Stephen of Montpelier, Vt., came in together to exchange skis.

But things spread out more in the skate leg as Webster, Mannix and Gaiazova broke away. Webster and Mannix eventually left Gaiazova.

“It was basically uneventful until the last [kilometer] and a half when we were fighting for position,” Webster said. “Taz and I were swapping positions a couple of times and I took the lead in the last [kilometer] and a half.”

Mannix, who is from Alaska, took a tumble on a berm about 3K into the skate leg but recovered well, finishing 2.5 seconds behind Webster’s 41:02.5.

“[Webster and Gaiazova] were in sight so I had something to go for,” she said. “Other than that it was pretty uneventful.”

Stephen, who was 17th in the pursuit at the world junior championships earlier this month, took second in the U.S. competition and Williams, a 2007 NCAA champion who skis for Northern Michigan University and lives in Hastings, Minn., was third.

The national championships conclude Sunday morning with a 30K free skate marathon for women at 9 a.m. and a men’s 50K at 11.

Cross country skiing

U.S. NATIONAL PURSUIT

At Nordic Heritage Center, Presque Isle

Men’s 30K

1. Kris Freeman 1:12.23, 2. Alex Harvey 1:13.17, 3. Garrott Kuzzy 1:13.47.8, 4. Chris Butler 1:13.47.9, 5. Torin Koos 1:14.27, 6. Lars Flora 1:15.02, 7. Brayton Osgood 1:15.12, 8. David Chamberlain 1:15.20, 9. Marius Korthauer 1:15.23, 10. Colin Rodgers 1:15.32, 11. Brent McMurtry 1:15.48, 12. Bryan Cook 1:16.40, 13. Zack Simons 1:16.50, 14. Eli Enman 1:17.11, 15. Andre Watt 1:17.18, 16. Pate Neuman 1:17.44, 17. Thomas Keefe 1:17.47, 18. Mike Sinnott 1:18.37, 19. Brian Gregg 1:18.46, 20. Ian Case 1:18.50,

21. Justin Easter 1:19.00, 22. Josh Smullin 1:19.32, 23. Adam Swank 1:20.39, 24. Lenny Valjas 1:20.52, 25. Fred Bailey 1:20.53, 26. Dirk Grimm 1:22.11.0, 27. Patrick O’Brian 1:22.11.2, 28. Pavel Stoskov 1:22.11.4, 29. Vahur Teppan 1:22.42.2, 30. Nick Kline 1:23.09, 31. Ben Koons 1:25.21, 32. Henri Soom 1:25.50, 33. Matt Briggs 1:26.18, 34. Linden Mallor 1:26.22, 35. Dakota Blackhorse 1:27.02, 36. Liam Donnelly 1:28.47, 37. Sam Marshall 1:29.49, 38. Allan Spangler 1:32.00

Women’s 15K

1. Brittany Webster 41:02.5, 2. Tazlina Mannix 41:05.0, 3. Dasha Gaiazova 41:33.4, 4. Elizabeth Stephen 41:53.6, 5. Lindsay Williams 41:56.6, 6. Lindsey Weier 42:09.3, 7. Morgan Arritola 42:09.7, 8. Laura Valaas 42:42.6, 9. Brooke Gosling 42:43.3, 10. Caitlin Compton 43:42.4, 11. Kate Whitcomb 44:13.1, 12. Evelyn Dong 44:49.0, 13. Kristina Strandberg 45:02.3, 14. Martina Stursova 45:05.8, 15. Maria Stuber 45:06.0, 16. Nicole De Yong 45:57.7, 17. Kelly Ahern 46:22.6, 18. Laura DeWitt 46:45.6, 19. Kate Underwood 47:11.7, 20. Anna Karin Berglund 47:21.2, 21. Alex Jospe 47:24.6, 22. Diane Tremblay 47:24.8, 23. Ingrid Olson 48:05.4, 24. Kathleen Maynard 48:10.2, 25. Tanya Cook 48:31.1

Junior Men 10K

1. Russell Currier 29:29.3, 2. Dylan Grald 31:19.7

Junior Women 10K

1. Chelsea Tremblay 49:11.4

Master Men 10K

1. Jeff Dubis 15:24.7, 2. Paul Cyr 15:56.4, 3. Prawat Negvajara 18:28.4