November 29, 2010
Newell places sixth in XC sprint
by PR Wire Report/
Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) placed sixth in a World Cup cross country men’s 1.4K Classic Sprint in Kuusamo, Finland, on Friday.
Norway’s John Kristian Dahl was the men’s winner.
Middlebury College product Simi Hamilton placed 67th overall and Kris Freeman (Andover, N.H.) was 87th.
Newell, who finished eighth in the qualifying round felt good and said he was recovering well between the heats.
“I like this course a lot, it’s a tough one with two big hills for the men, since I know the course well I was pretty much able to choose my own track, but by the second heat the wheels were coming off a little bit and I couldn’t quite get in there enough,” Newell said in a U.S. Ski Team press release. “It’s a good race for me, but I can do better, and that’s what I want to do. I can do better next week in Dusseldorf.”
Cross country head coach Chris Grover was pleased for Newell.
“It is always quite an accomplishment to make the A finals and a sixth place in a World Cup is a great thing,” Grover said. “We have done almost no anaerobic training so far this year, so it is good to see that he can still ski very fast in a qualification round. I know he was not satisfied with his performance, but it is still a long season and we will make the necessary adjustments.”
The top finisher for the U.S. women was Dartmouth College senior Ida Sargent (Orleans, Vt.), who placed 33rd in the 1.2K women’s Classic Sprint.
Liz Stephen (East Montpelier, Vt.) finished 96th.
Despite a strong showing and nearly qualifying in her first series of world cup races Sargent was not happy with her performance.
“I struggled getting going today during the qualifying so it was tough to be that close to the top 30, when I know I could have skied a lot better.”
Grover was excited about Sargent’s performance.
“To be so close to qualification in her first World Cup sprint says that she is truly a talent for the future,” Grover said. “Just a bit more experience at this level is all she needs to be cracking the top 30. I hope she is happy with her effort, from my point of view she is off to a great start.”
