SECTION V SKIERS COMPETE AT JUNIOR NATIONALS

The 2006 USSA Junior Olympics began Monday March 6th in Houghton Michigan. The best junior skiers in the country are competing in four different races in the next six days. The official website for the event is www.2006juniorolympics.org. Skiers compete in three different age groups: J2 ( ages 14 & 15), J1(16 & 17) and OJ( 18 & 19). Local skiers competing in the event are: Bryan Gardner J2, Audrey Mangan J1, Robert Gardner J1, Tom Wood J1, Warren McDermott OJ and Kevin Rose OJ. Teams from ten different divisions across the United States compete for the National Championship. The local skiers are on the Mid-Atlantic Team which represents the best junior nordic skiers from New York State.

Monday 3/6- Sprint Races

Robert Gardner won the SILVER medal in the classic sprint competition on Monday. Robert's second place finish is the best finish in recent history for a section five skier! The sprint event started with a qualifier race with the top 24 skiers in each age group advancing to the quarter final round. Robert finished fourth in the qualifier heat and went on to win his quarter final and semi final heats to advance to the final round. He finsihed second in the final heat to win the silver medal. Please check the www.2006juniorolympics.org website for full results.

Wednesday 3/6- Classic Distance Races

Robert won ANOTHER SILVER medal today in the 15k classic race!! It was a very difficult wax day today- 40 degrees with 2 inches of fresh snow overnight. Waxless skis or “hairies” were very popular today. Todays race was a mass start for all groups. Robert avoided some crashes and falls by many skiers early in the race and slowly worked his way to the lead pack. At about the half way point, eventual winner Matt Gelso decided to seperate himself from the pack. Robert decided to stay with him, which turned out to be a very good move. Gelso and Gardner created about a 45 second gap on the rest of the pack. After a few more k's Gelso decided to try and pull away. Robert stayed with him for a bit, but then realized that Matt had too much left in the tank and coasted to an easy second place finish.

Audrey Mangan skied to a 22nd place finish in the girls J1 age group. The 2006 New York State Champion was the top finisher for the Mid-Atlantic Team in her age group.