March 28, 2009 (Fairbanks, Alaska) – Liz Stephen and Leif Zimmerman took home the 15km and 30km Pursuit titles on Friday at the 2009 USA XC Ski Nationals. Stephen from East Montpelier, VT, successfully defended her title as she came from behind to overtake all rivals in the skate leg for the win. Canada’s Ivan Babikov won the men’s 30km Pursuit, clearly the strongest skier in the field, with Zimmerman dueling it out with Tuesday’s 10km classic winner James Southam for second place and the men’s title.

“To keep them within 20 seconds is pretty good for me,” said the 21-year-old Stephen, of the U.S. Ski Team, of how much she trailed Swede Kristina Strandberg and Anchorage’s Kikkan Randall at the midpoint transition. Full women’s race report in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner here.

“My birthday is actually the Fourth of July, Independence Day, so maybe that’s why I get lucky here,” said Babikov, who after a long process finally gained Canadian citizenship and moved his family to Alberta.

“It was a pretty gradual breakaway. It wasn’t like I just dropped him [Southam] anywhere,” Zimmermann said. “It was a hard fight because he stayed close for a long time and I was going pretty hard.” Full men’s race report in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner here.

Full results pdf here.

Results

Women

1. Elizabeth Stephen 47:36.3
2. Kristina Strandberg 47:51.9
3. Kikkan Randall 48:01.0
4. Holly Brooks 48:10.8
5. Rebecca Dussault 48:46.0
6. Morgan Smyth 49:12.1
7. Tazlina Mannix 49:22.1
8. Becca Rorabaugh 49:48.7
9. Caitlin Compton 49:56.8
10. Kristina Owen 50:01.1
11. Kate Pearson Arduser 50:52.9
12. Evelyn Dong 50:53.5
13. Maria Stuber 50:54.0
14. Nicole Deyong 50:56.9
15. Kristina Trygstad Saari 51:05.4
16. Adele Espy 51:19.1
17. Johanna Winters 51:24.2
18. Kate Fitzgerald 51:32.4
19. Rosie Brennan 51:39.7
20. Aurelia Korthauer 51:50.9
21. Sadie Bjornsen 52:24.8
22. Corinne Prevot 53:40.5
23. Katie Ronsse 53:50.4
24. Heather Edic 54:41.4
25. Martina Stursova 54:56.4
26. Jaime Bronga 55:12.2
27. Kate Backstrum 55:24.1
28. Amy Glen 56:06.9
29. Heather Zimmerman 56:20.8
30. Kinsey Loan 56:33.7
31. Anna Coulter 56:41.7
32. Alyson McPhetres 56:45.8
33. Kryston McPhetres 57:21.9
34. Tristan Ramey 57:38.1
35. Marisa Rorabaugh 58:54.0
36. Morgan Bender 58:59.9
37. Emily Rogers 59:58.0
38. Greta Anderson 1:00:07.5
39. Rachelle Kanady 1:00:13.6
40. Kimberly Delfrate 1:01:19.5
41. Alison Ross 1:02:32.3
42. Amanda Delfrate 1:03:34.9

Men

1. Ivan Babikov 1:26:03.3
2. Leif Zimmermann 1:27:40.2
3. James Southam 1:28:37.6
4. Lars Flora 1:28:51.9
5. Garrott Kuzzy 1:28:53.7
6. Brent Knight 1:28:59.0
7. Bryan Cook 1:29:13.4
8. Christopher Cook 1:29:20.4
9. Graham Nishikawa 1:29:21.2
10. Torin Koos 1:29:25.5
11. Mike Sinnott 1:29:28.1
12. Brian Gregg 1:29:30.9
13. Noah Hoffman 1:29:35.0
14. Bart Dengel 1:29:51.1
15. Colin Rodgers 1:29:54.8
16. David Norris 1:29:56.5
17. Scott Patterson 1:30:43.5
18. Andre Watt 1:30:54.9
19. Lex Treinen 1:30:57.0
20. Glenn Randall 1:31:00.1
21. Patrick Johnson 1:31:07.4
22. Dan Roycroft 1:31:12.0
23. Anders Haugen 1:31:16.4
24. Max Treinen 1:31:18.9
25. Marius Korthauer 1:31:40.2
26. Mike Hinckley 1:32:18.5
27. Ben Sim 1:32:19.1
28. Matt Gelso 1:32:56.4
29. Brayton Osgood 1:33:15.7
30. Michael Brothers 1:33:29.9
31. Phillip Violett 1:33:31.8
32. Tyson Flaharty 1:34:32.5
33. Dylan Watts 1:34:57.7
34. Peter Kling 1:35:00.0
35. Reese Hanneman 1:35:03.1
36. Simi Hamilton 1:35:03.4
37. Mark Iverson 1:35:05.3
38. Eli Enman 1:35:06.3
39. Dave Chamberlain 1:35:09.2
40. Sam Naney 1:36:10.7
41. Pate Neumann 1:36:12.6
42. Eric Packer 1:36:46.9
43. Ray Sabo 1:37:50.3
44. August Kaeding 1:37:58.5
45. Tim Cook 1:39:10.2
46. Donald Haering 1:39:40.3
47. Kelsey Boyer 1:39:52.9
48. Erin Phillips 1:39:55.5
49. Erik Mundahl 1:41:46.8
50. Alex Morris 1:41:48.4
51. Sam Tarling 1:41:51.7
52. Karl Schauer 1:44:43.7
53. William Coleman 1:47:54.7
54. Cody Priest 1:48:26.0
55. Isaac Lammers 1:50:18.1
56. Davis Dunlap 1:55:15.8
57. Dan Bradley 2:01:08.9