Vasek Cervenka finishing his last lap in the Sunday Mass start

On Saturday and Sunday the 11th and 12th of August, Ethan Allen Biathlon hosted the North American Roller Ski Biathlon Championships at the Ethan Allen Firing Range Venue in Jericho Center, Vermont. For the Senior Men and Women, these were the first races in the series used for selection of the US teams to the IBU and World Cup races early winter.
Nineteen athletes with ties to MN or WI participated. Several past State HS Champions included. A number of former Midwest top skiers/biathletes who are participating in National level training programs or with the National Guard program at Jericho.

Full results can be found here: eabiathlon.org

On Saturday, the format was a Sprint with two shooting stages, prone and standing.

In the Senior Men’s 10.1 km event Vasek Cervenka, Mt Itasca, [actually a first year Junior] finished 4th with 2 misses in 25:50, 1:08 behind Sean Doherty of the USBA National team. Close behind in 5th was Jakob Ellingson, NG, Hopkins, also with 2 misses in 25:56. Leif Nordgren, US Team, formerly from Marine on the St Croix, was 6th; Paul Schommer, WI, was 7th; Jake Brown, St Paul, was 8th; Raleigh Goessling, originally from Esko, was 9th.

In the Junior Men’s 10.1 km, Gabe Raguse, Brainerd, was 2nd with 4 misses in 31:52, 0:53 out of 1st.

In the Senior Women’s 7.2 km, Deedra Irwin, WI, was in 12th in 23:41. Siena Ellingson, NG Hopkins, was 13th with 4 misses in 24:41, 3:57 back.

In the Youth Men’s 7.2 km event, Garrett Beckrich, Mt Itasca, was 7th with 5 misses in 21:57, 02:09 back. Joey DelToro, Woodbury, was 18th with 7 missed shots in 26:12

In the Senior Boys 7.2 km, Sam Stertz was 1st with 7 misses in 22:28; Ryker Bosek was 4th [2nd US] with 6 misses in 26:57.

In the Youth Women’s 6.2 km race, Stormy Hegg, Alexandria, was 2nd with 3 misses in 22:41, 0:32 behind winner Helen Wilson, AK. Annika Viren, Mt Itasca was 4th in 23:42; Emma Stertz, Mt Itasca in 5th 24:46.

The Senior Girls event was the same as the YW format. Kaisa Bosek, Alexandria, dominated with 3 misses in 23:27, followed by Elsa Viren, Mt Itasca, with 6 missed shots in 27:17.

On Sunday the format changed to a Mass Start for the Seniors and a Pursuit format for the younger athletes. Both formats have 4 shooting stages, two prone followed by two standing.

In the Senior Women’s 12.8 km event, Susan Dunkley of the US Team moved to the top of the podium with 3 misses in 37:27. Irwin moved up to 6th in 40:11 and Ellingson finished in 10th with 42:13.

In the Senior Men’s 15.4 km race, Nordgren dominated missing 5 shots and finishing in 37:28. Cervenka finished 5th with 7 misses in 39:59; Schommer was 6th in 40:29; Ellingson in 8th, 41:04; Goessling in 9th, 41:16; Brown in 10th in 41:25; and Wynn Roberts, Battle Lake & NG, was 11th in 42:41.

The Junior Men followed with the 12.8 km Pursuit race. Raguse finished 3rd with 10 misses in 45:00.

In the Youth Women’s, 7.0 km event, Emma Stertz pulled her shooting together, missing only 1 shot, to dominate in 25:17. Hegg was 4th with 8 misses in 29:43; and Annika Viren was 7th in 29:59.

The Senior Girls event was again the same format as the YW. Kaisa Bosek again dominated with only 2 misses finishing in 27:06. She would have finished 2nd in the YW event. Elsa Viren missed 5 and finished in 32:17 for 2nd.

In the Youth Men’s 10.0 km, Beckrich moved up to 3rd, with 8 misses, finishing in 31:45. DelToro struggled on the range, missing 14, finishing in 19th.

In the Senior Boy’s 7.0 km category, Sam Stertz again dominated, missing 7 shots and finishing in 26:54. Ryker Bosek was 2nd, with 5 misses, finishing in 29:55.

A total of 87 athletes competed including 20 Canadians.

Our congrats go out to all the participants, some of whom experienced the challenging trails and international competition for the first time! Midwest was well represented!

The next event in MN will be the Elk River series on Thursday, August 23rd with zero at 5:00 pm