Midway, UT – APU Nordic had a strong day on Friday at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships at Soldier Hollow in Utah with Erik Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash./APU Nordic) and Rosie Brennan (Park City, Utah/APU Nordic) taking their first U.S. titles.

Bjornsen won the men’s 15k freestyle individual start in 37:02.7, a six second margin over U.S. Ski Team teammate Tad Elliott (Durango, Colo./Ski and Snowboard Club Vail). Matt Gelso (Truckee, Calif./Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) took bronze.

“I’m still a little bit in shock. I can’t believe I just won nationals. It’s so amazing,” said Bjornsen. “My race was unbelievable. I’ve never been top 10 in a distance race at nationals so to win it was pretty crazy.

“I went out hard and caught some fast dudes and worked with [Matt] Gelso, who was third today. He kind of pulled me for a lot of it. I was kind of dying the second lap and then the last lap I pulled a couple times for Gelso and just felt like we were hammering that last lap. Coming down the last hill I was just thinking ‘don’t fall! Don’t lose it!’ because my legs we so filled with lactate. Then I just hammered into the finish and I couldn’t believe it. I was just so excited.”

APU Nordic swept the women’s podium with Brennan winning the 10k in 29:12.3 – an 11 second margin over Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash./APU Nordic). Kate Fitzgerald (Palmer, Alaska/APU Nordic) won bronze.

“It’s great to be back home and have my friends and family able to watch,” said Brennan. “I’ve been off for the past year’s cross country ski racing and nobody really knows what it is, so it’s great for them to finally have been able to come out and see it.”