FORT KENT – Hilary McNamee saved something for the end of the women’s 5-kilometer pursuit competition in the U.S. and North American summer biathlon championships Saturday morning.

Fort Fairfield’s McNamee overtook fellow Maine Winter Sports Center team member Grace Boutot of Fort Kent in the final running leg of the race at the 10th Mountain Ski Center.

McNamee, a junior competitor, was the top finisher in the race, followed by youth competitors Boutot and Kaitlyn Bernard, also of Fort Kent.

McNamee’s goal for the pursuit was simply to shoot well, but once she saw she could overtake Boutot, who had a race-low seven penalties, or missed shots, on the shooting range, the soon-to-be Fort Fairfield High senior decided she’d put a bit more into it.

“I took it kind of easy, did a little less than race pace, shot well, and started closing that gap,” said McNamee, a two-time member of the world junior championships national team in biathlon. “By the last shooting stage, I was thinking, ‘I’ve gotta go’.”

Her finishing time was 28 minutes, 42 seconds, which was 1:35 ahead of Boutot, despite Boutot’s fine shooting. McNamee finished with 10 penalties.

The last shooting stage proved key as both Boutot and McNamee missed two shots, which meant two laps in the penalty loop. Boutot had just an eight-second lead on McNamee, who overtook Boutot about 100 meters into the final running stage.

“It did feel good [to lead the experienced McNamee] but I did have a big lead on her and I was sorry to lose it,” said Boutot, who will be a junior this fall at Community High School in Fort Kent. “She just flew by me. I hung on but she had a pretty big gap and I think it started to get wider. I started to get tired.”

Boutot said she was affected a bit by some exercise-induced asthma.

Douglas Hoover of Williamsburg, Pa., won the men’s 6K race in 27:33.0. The top local finisher was Newt Rogers of Fort Kent, who was fifth overall.

Technical issues solved

The team at the 10th Mountain Center needed just a few hours Thursday evening to resolve the technical difficulties which delayed the release of results from the men’s and women’s sprint races.

Fort Kent resident Jeff Dubis, the chief of competition, said the glitch occurred when the power to the computer system flickered briefly while the results were being downloaded from the timing system. Dubis said there was no bad weather in the area, but the flicker may have been as simple as somebody hitting a circuit breaker.

“Something happened with the electricity,” he said. “We had a crash. We had it all backed up on the original timers but we had to go through the whole process again. The software got a little screwed up.”

The data from the race was never in jeopardy of being lost because all the information was still in the timing system, and there were also times available from hand-held stop watches.

The use of hand-held timers as a backup are standard at even the highest level of biathlon events, Dubis added.

“Even in the World Cup, where you have this really advanced timing system, there are still people out there doing it manually in case something happens,” he said.

Athletes were sent home because the organizers didn’t want to hold them from eating dinner and getting rest for the following day. The award ceremonies from Thursday’s races were held Saturday at the same time as the ceremonies for the pursuit.

McNamee’s plans for now

Just because Hilary McNamee has competed at the world junior biathlon championships doesn’t mean she knows exactly what her plans for the near future are as she enters her senior year of high school. Sounds like a lot of high school seniors.

Her latest plan – or “most popular” as she put it Saturday – is one of especially lofty and Olympian goals. She’s thinking about applying to Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. If accepted, she’d defer her matriculation, which would normally occur in the 2008-09 season, to train and prepare with an eye on trials for the 2010 Olympics. If her training goes well, she could explore deferring another year or starting with just a few courses.

Why Dartmouth? Aside from it’s prestigious academic reputation, the Big Green won the NCAA men’s and women’s skiing championships this fall. Two current Maine Winter Sports Center coaches, Will Sweetser and Eileen Carey, both attended the Ivy League school in Hanover, N.H.

“From what I’ve heard it seems to fit a lot of things a skier needs,” she said. “They’re very supportive of skiers.”