|
|
|
|
|
|
Visit skileavenworth to learn about season passes at the Leavenworth Ski Hill. |
Home >> Icicle Village Resort Leavenworth News Room >> Olympian Travels
Valaas, Koos sparkle at national championships: Cross-country skiers each take second place - January 2007 By Rob Ollikainen and Brent Stecker, World sports writers
HOUGHTON, Mich. — Wenatchee Valley skiers Laura Valaas and Torin Koos each captured second place in their respective classic sprint skiing finals on Saturday at the U.S. Cross Country Championships at Michigan Tech Nordic Training Center.
On Sunday, Valaas and Caitlyn Compton finished first in the team sprint event, while the 2006 Olympic team of Koos and Andrew Newell took second place in the team sprint. Times were not available as of Sunday night.
Valaas, a Wenatchee native, finished Saturday’s one-kilometer sprint course in three minutes, 30.78 seconds. She was just two seconds behind Olympian Kikkan Randall of Alaska.
In a phone interview with The Wenatchee World on Sunday night, Valaas said she has shown that she is one of the best cross-country skiers in America.
One of her coaches agrees.
“I’ve been impressed with Laura’s skiing,” said U.S. sprint coach Chris Grover in a skiracing.com article posted Saturday night. “She’s been close to Kikkan and that’s world class.”
The race results didn’t have an immediate impact on Valaas’ goal to appear at the world championships in Japan in February. There are four spots available on the U.S. sprint team. One goes to the winner of the SuperTour series. Valaas is in second place in the tour’s sprint standings behind Compton. The rest of the team members are up to the discretion of the coaches.
The 22 year-old Valaas was third in the 5K classic race on Wednesday, and 12th in the 10K freestyle on Thursday. She is a graduate of Whitman College and a member of the Central Division Cross Country Ski Team.
Koos said he and Newell were in position to win the team sprint on Sunday but one of his skis broke.
“We were well on our way to winning a national title,” he said in a phone interview. “Bad things happen once in a while.”
Koos, a Leavenworth native, two-time Olympian and a member of the U.S. Ski team, finished the Saturday’s 1K sprint in 2:53.69. He was three seconds behind Newell. The 26 year-old also finished 10th place in the 10K classic race on Wednesday.
“I felt pretty good about my performance,” Koos said. “Andy Newell is on the top of his game now.”
“Andy and Torin got away on the uphill and with a few hundred meters to go, either Torin or Andy could have won,” Grover said. “Andy just had a little more juice at the end.”
Koos said it is neat and rare occurrence to see two skiers from the same area place so high at the national championships.
“It’s pretty good to see two of the top skiers in the U.S. are from the same place,” he said. “It doesn’t happen often.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Torin Koos
is a member of the National A Team for the United States and a World
Cup, World Championship and Olympic competitor. If you are interested in supporting Torrin Koos we will be happy to pass your information along to him. Your partnership will help support the lifestyle needed to keep the dream alive. As an athlete, Torin hopes his Olympic journey inspires the community to participate in the free air lifestyle, the same customers that come to visit the Leavenworth area.
|
Resort Direct(Tel) 509.888.2776 (Fax) 509.548.7050 Reservations800.961.0162 |
Icicle Village Resort505 US Highway 2 Leavenworth, WA 98826
Copyright 2006 |
|
|
