PRESQUE ISLE – There were no top-three finishes for the U.S. team Saturday in the sprint events of the Biathlon Junior World Championships.

What there was, in addition to warm temperatures and a steady crosswind, was a strong showing for the youth women in the 6-kilometer sprint event.

Two U.S. women placed in the top 10, the best results for the nation in several years. Brynden Manbeck of Grand Rapids, Minn., was sixth and Laura Spector of Lenox, Mass., was ninth as the six-day event opened Saturday morning at the Nordic Heritage Ski Center.

The sprint races, in which competitors start at 30-second intervals, feature three loops around the ski trail and two shooting stages. The biathletes shoot prone in the first stage and standing in the second stage.

Neither Manbeck nor Spector was perfect on the range. But then again, all of the competitors in the four races missed at least one target.

And their overall efforts overshadowed their misses in the European-dominated sport. It was the first time the U.S. placed two athletes in the top 10 at the world juniors since 2002, when twin sisters Lanny and Tracy Barnes were third and eighth, respectively, in the 12.5K pursuit in Ridnaun, Italy. It was the first such finish for the U.S. in a youth competition. The youth portion of the world championships was introduced in 2002.

“That means a lot to us,” Spector said. “It’s been a while since we had somebody in the top 10. … People don’t recognize the U.S. as being very strong in this sport, so it’s really nice to step it up like that. It means a lot for the future.”

The youth women were the first group to race Saturday morning, and the U.S. team members throughout the day got the biggest ovations from the crowd, which numbered around 300 in the morning and 350 in the afternoon.

“It was really cool to have them cheering and to know you deserve it,” said Fort Kent native Newt Rogers, who competed in the 7.5K youth men’s sprint. “Very exciting.”

Manbeck had one penalty in the prone shooting and shot clean in the standing. She was 1 minute, 4.1 seconds behind first-place finisher Olga Vilukhina of Russia.

Spector, who finished in seventh place at the U.S. trials earlier this month – two spots away from a berth on the Olympic team – had three penalties. She hit her first four prone shots but missed the last one.

“It’s frustrating when you’re on a roll, hitting every shot, and you feel really comfortable, and you get to the last one and you’re surprised that you don’t hit it,” she said.

Irina Maximova, also of Russia, was second with one standing penalty and was 32.6 seconds behind her teammate. Tamara Baric of Slovenia had three shooting penalties, including two in the standing, which was the worst of the top eight finishers. But she still managed to come in third overall.

“I got a little bit nervous because I had some problems in shooting before the race,” said Baric, who has competed this season on the World Cup circuit. “Me and my coach talked and we decided to [put all the effort] in the [skiing] and then in the shooting I’ll just try, and if I have problems, I’ll just [ski] so much better than the others. And so I did.”

Hilary McNamee of Fort Fairfield finished 36th in her first major international competition. She had one penalty in the prone and two more in the standing, which wasn’t much worse than some of the top competitors.

The crowds cheered loudly for McNamee, but hushed for a moment when she fell coming out of the standing shooting stage, near the right side of the grandstand.

“I tripped on my ski. I just caught up and I fell,” the Fort Fairfield High sophomore said with a smile. “But hey, a lesson learned. … [The crowd is] surreal. It’s amazing. I’ve never seen so many people show up for a race I’ve been in. It’s great.”

In the youth men’s sprint, the top 12 finishers were within one minute of each other, headed up by Norway’s Arild Askestad who had two penalties.

Neither Russell Currier nor Rogers was pleased with their races, although Rogers had a fine day on the shooting range. Currier, a Stockholm resident and Caribou High senior, came in 37th (2:41 behind) and Rogers was 40th.

Currier had five penalties, three of which came in the standing stage.

“Definitely both stages did not go so well for me. I don’t know where I was skiing-wise,” said Currier. “… Overall it wasn’t a great race. But we’ll see.”

Rogers, however, had one of the top shooting results of the race. One of only six competitors in the youth men’s race to miss just one shot, the penalty came in his second shot of the prone stage. Rogers said the bolt on his rifle jammed.

But slow skiing cost him dearly. Rogers finished 2:56 behind Askestad.

“The conditions were a little soft out there…. My legs were just very heavy out there today,” he said. “I don’t know why. It could be nerves. Nerves do that to you sometimes.”

Winn Roberts of Battle Lake, Minn., led the U.S. men with a 14th-place finish.

In the junior men’s 10K sprint, Canadian Jean-Philippe Leguellec had a “very agonizing” wait to find out where he finished. Leguellec, an 18-year-old who had a 41/2-hour drive to Presque Isle from his home in Shannon, Quebec, was first to start in the race.

He had just one penalty in the prone and held on to the top spot for a while, but wound up third, 22.4 seconds behind winner Petr Hradecky of the Czech Republic.

“Given the fact that we’re in the States and I have no jet lag whatsoever, we’re home, there’s a lot less stress,” said Leguellec, who has never skied at the Nordic Heritage site. “… I just did my race, what I had to do, and it gave me third place, so I’m very happy.”

France’s Vincent Jay was second. Hradecky had one penalty, and Jay had two. Jay was 18.8 seconds behind the winner. Ben Byrne of Bovey, Minn., had the top finish for the U.S. men. He was 46th and was 3:57.8 behind with six penalties.

Germany took the top two spots in the junior women’s 7.5K sprint. Caroline Hennecke won the race with one penalty, followed by rising star Magdalena Neuner, whose four penalties – three in the standing – made for the worst shooting of the top 20 finishers. But fast skiing helped her finish just 4.8 seconds behind. Marion Blondeau of France was third with two penalties and 15.8 seconds back.

Anna Roesser of Grand Rapids, Minn., had the best showing for the U.S. She came in 35th (3:56.2 behind) with only two penalties.