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Travels with the Leavenworth Olympian - "US Nationals Sprint Relay Article" - January 2007

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- With four Olympians in desperate pursuit, Tyson Flaharty of Alaska Pacific University whizzed downhill -- two minutes away from claiming the inaugural team sprint at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships.

The lead was short-lived for Flaharty, a former UAF skier. But the memory from the finale at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships will be indelible.

"I got this little rush over the top and thought 'I've got to go as hard as I can for as long as I can and see if I can hold on,'" said the 21-year-old.

But instead of Flaharty and APU teammate Eric Strabel winning, Anchorage's Lars Flora, anchoring Chad Giese, pulled off the unlikely upset on the Michigan Tech Trails as Alaskans snagged half the medals Sunday to cap a phenomenal week for the 49th state.

What sprung Flaharty to an advantage of several seconds after the final relay tag from Strabel was the misfortune of U.S. Ski Team racer Torin Koos.

"Right on the last pole plant, my binding broke and I just went crashing down," Koos said of the exchange zone fiasco which forced Andy Newell to retreat to tag his partner before setting off on the final 1.3-kilometer leg. "We were leading by about five seconds going into the exchange, and Newell had to make up three to five seconds (leaving the exchange)."

Thus Newell and Flora ended up starting the final lap together. The two of them, along with Anchorage's James Southam (teamed with APU's Anders Haugen), swallowed Flaharty after the terrain started rising.

"On the first climb, it was over," said Flaharty. "They just surged past."

Flora was more concerned about Newell's sprinting prowess than Flaharty's potential to escape.

"I had a feeling Tyson was going to die," said Flora. "I could see him ski ahead and he looked pretty full of (lactic acid)."

But Newell, currently the world's third-ranked sprinter (by FIS points) and Saturday's individual sprint champion, worried Flora enough that he tucked behind him and bided his time on a 400-meter climb before the final flat stretch to the stadium finish.

"I just conserved my energy for the end. I knew that last 100 meters was the deciding point," said Flora.

Flora pulled even 50 meters out, then blew past to win comfortably by a half-second and 1.2 seconds over the Southam-Haugen tandem.

The six 1.3-kilometer laps skated by the Flora and Giese, who considers himself retired, took 15 minutes, 14 seconds.

"I was pretty surprised (to win)," said Flora, a two-time Olympian. "Newell, he's the skier right now for sprinting, and to be able to take him in the last 100 meters was fun. I knew I didn't have to lunge (across the line)."

Giese won his first national title.

Flora acknowledged that without Koos' fall, catching Newell was a daunting proposition.

"Yeah, it would have been tough, for sure. But that's sprint racing and team sprints," he said.

The Strabel-Flaharty team hung on for fourth in 15:21.

Team pursuit, which debuted at the Winter Olympics last year in Italy, is a new race at U.S. Nationals. The short course is like a sprint, but doing so three times per race with minimal rest (each partner alternates) through multiple rounds make it a major endurance event.

It's also highly entertaining, and on Sunday spectators watched racers come and go virtually nonstop as five semifinal heats (three for men, two for women) whittled each gender to 12 teams for the finals. Fifty-seven men's teams and 44 women's teams signed up.

Considering the mid-30s temperatures, the course remained in remarkably good shape.

"Since the day after Christmas, the race organization has been working from sunup to sundown to get everything up to conditions where we could race," said race official and Michigan Tech coach Joe Haggenmiller at the concluding banquet and awards ceremony. "Hopefully, we'll have a little easier time next year where we're not shoveling around the clock."

Caitlin Compton's job was to open up a lead on Taz Mannix. Laura Valaas' mission was to hold it against Anchorage star Kikkan Randall.

The CXC team executed their strategy to perfection, and it resulted in an 18-second win in 17:16 over the training partners from APU.

The teams were together after two of six laps before Compton, overall leader of the domestic SuperTour race series, made her move the second time around the course, leaving Mannix in her wake.

When Mannix next tagged Randall, the Alaskans' deficit was too big to overcome.

"I was feeling really good. I don't know if I lost my focus or what but it happened so quickly I didn't even realize it was happening," Mannix said. "I just didn't accelerate as quickly as I could have from the tag in the second lap and that kind of cost us."

Randall, who won three silvers and a gold at these championships, was then unable to make up much ground on Valaas, the runnerup to Randall in Saturday's individual sprint.

"I knew Kikkan would be a very real challenge, and I was just hoping that Compton would give me a big enough gap so I could stay ahead of her," said Valaas, the SuperTour sprint leader. "Caitlin was the workhorse on this one. I was just maintaining our position."

Mannix, who will head to the Under-23 World Championships in Italy later this month, called the championships "an incredible week.

"It's definitely my best nationals ever," said Mannix, who had three finishes among the top six. "I felt really strong in the distance races and I know where I can improve in the sprinting."

Kate Pearson of APU teamed with Karen Camenisch to win bronze in 17:59.

The medal capped a difficult week for Pearson, who raced at less than 100 percent due to a respiratory infection that may be bronchitis, she said.

"Even with bad results ...I didn't regret coming," said Pearson. "It feels really good to come out (today) and have the good result."

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Torin Koos is a member of the National A Team for the United States and a World Cup, World Championship and Olympic competitor.

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Contact Information
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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.

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phone: 888-353-0595
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