2002 Olympian Dan Campbell and 2006 Olympian Carolyn Bramante took the victories Thursday at Mt Itasca in the Sprint competition. Campbell, originally from Hastings, MN, is currently the Assistant Ski Coach at Montana State University. After not competing in biathlon for several season, Campbell showed that he still remembers how to shoot, hitting 9 of 10 targets. He finished 15 seconds ahead of Kevin Patzoldt of Mt Itasca Biathlon, and 17 ahead of Mark Johnson, also with Mt Itasca Biathlon.

In the women’s 7.5km race, Bramante had perfect shooting, hitting 10 for 10. She was followed by Sara Studebaker of the US National B Team 26 seconds back shooting (2, 1). In third, Denise Teela with Army WCAP equaled Bramante’s clean shooting, finishing third 28 seconds out of first.

Raleigh Goessling of Duluth Esko Biathlon won the youth men’s race by a large margin, followed by Conrad Roberts, Nisswa NW, and three seconds later, Ben Greenwald, Twin Cities Biathlon. Hillary McNamee of MWSC put together a perfect shooting race to win the Youth Women’s race by 54 seconds over Addie Bryne of Mt Itasca, shooting (1, 2). In third was Andrea Mayo of MWSC shooting (3, 1).

NorAm # 3 will continue with the Pursuit format race on Saturday and Mass Start format on Sunday. The top 3 ranked women and top 2 ranked men will qualify to compete at the Europa Cup races in Altenberg, Germany and Nove Mesto, Czech Republic in early January.

Download the NorAm 3 Sprint Results in PDF format

Blizzard conditions created challenging shooting conditions at Mt Itasca for NorAm # 2 on Sunday. The high winds and snow made shooting very difficult and the ski tracks slow. Nevertheless, the results were surprisingly tight. Carolyn Bramante and Zach Hall were able to keep their shooting together in spite of high winds, both shooting (2,0).

Dartmouth alums took all the podium positions in the women’s race with Bramante ’06 in first, Susan Dunklee ’08 in second, and Sara Studebaker ’07 in third. Dunklee has been training with a Development Team coach James Upham for only 4 months, and she put together a great performance in what was her first biathlon race on snow. The men’s winner, Zach Hall, is also a Dartmouth alum, class of 2007.

The men’s winner, Zach Hall, National B Team, took first by twenty seconds over Jesse Downs the National B Team/Army World Class Athlete program. In third was Sam Morse of the Army National Guard, 5 seconds behind Downs. The tight men’s race should lead to some exciting races in the sprint, pursuit and mass start that are scheduled for later in the week at Mt Itasca.

In the Youth Women’s race, Addie Byrne of Mt Itasca was first shooting (2,1). She was followed by Grace Boutot (2,4) and Hillary McNamee (1,4) of Maine Winter Sports Center.

The second sprint of NorAm # 2 race scheduled for Monday, Dec 15th has been cancelled due to extremely cold temperatures (-7F) and high winds (20-30mph).

NorAm # 3 will proceed as scheduled on Dec 18, 20, 21.

Download the NorAm 2 Results in PDF format