Rumford, ME – Olympians Torin Koos, of Leavenworth, Wash., and Anchorage, Alaska’s Holly Brooks struck gold on opening day of the U.S. Cross Country Championships at Maine’s Black Mountain on Sunday, convincingly winning the 1.4k classic sprints.nThe Methow Olympic Development Program’s Koos charged the 1.4k course to win the race and title. He was followed by Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Michael Sinnott of Sun Valley, Idaho in second and Stratton Mountain School’s Skyler Davis, of Jericho, Vt., in third.
Lars Flora of Anchorage, who led the final rounds after the quarterfinals, finished fifth overall behind Winthrop, Wash.’s Erik Bjornsen in fourth. U.S. Ski Team athlete Noah Hoffman of Aspen, Colo., finished 15th.
Koos, was all about the number one in the final rounds after finishing second in his heat in the quarterfinals. He proved strong taking both the semifinal and final victories. Koos bested Sinnott, Davis, Flora, Bjorsen, who also won his semifinal heat, and Eric Packer of Anchorage in the finals.
In the women’s race, Brooks led the surge with Czech Republic’s and University of Colorado’s Eliska Hajkova in second. Hajkova’s result does not count towards U.S. Championships, awarding third place finisher Morgan Smyth, of Vernon, Vt., second in the championship standings. Sadie Bjornsen finished behind Smyth in fourth, taking bronze in the U.S. Championship results for an Alaska Pacific University podium sweep.
“I just went out pretty much as hard as I could from the start and there’s definitely some recovery on the course, so I just charged every hill as fast as could and had a little bit of time for recovery on the downhill afterwards,” said Brooks of her winning strategy. “My strength is probably the hills. I knew if I was going to win I needed to basically gap the field on the up hills and try to hold them off on the downhill and double pole to the finish and I was able to do that. It was a really great day.”
Once in the final rounds, Brooks never looked back. Coming out of the quaterfinals, Brooks was in second behind Hajkova. Placed in separate semifinal heats, Brooks had only one gear – fast. She led her semifinal heat and kept the momentum going to clinch to victory in the six person final including Hajkova, Smyth, Bjornsen, Katie Ronsse of Anchorage and Peru, Vt.’s Sophie Caldwell.
The 2011 U.S. Cross Country Championships will continue Wednesday with the men’s and women’s 15/10k classic. The race, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed a day to make and move snow in order to create the best conditions for the course.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
U.S. Cross Country Championships
Rumford, ME – Jan. 2, 2011
1.4k Classic Sprint
Men
1. Torin Koos, Leavenworth, WA
2. Michael Sinnott, Sun Valley, ID
3. Skyler Davis, Jericho, VT
4. Erik Bjornsen, Winthrop, WA
5. Lars Flora, Anchorage, AK
Women
1. Holly Brooks, Anchorage, AK
2. Eliska Hajkova, Czech Republic
3. Morgan Smyth, Vernon, VT
4. Sadie Bjornsen, Anchorage, AK
5. Katie Ronsse, Anchorage, AK