January 05, 2011 (Rumford, ME) – Sadie Bjornsen (APU), who won the 1.4km free sprint at the Haywood Nor-Am in Rossland, BC, last month, took the victory in the women’s 10km individual start classic race at the US XC Ski Nationals in Rumford, ME, today. The classic 10/15km distance races, originally scheduled for Tuesday (Jan. 4), were moved to Wed. in order to allow better preparation of the courses for the rest of the competitions, as Rumford experienced very warm weather just prior to the Nationals creating very challenging snow conditions.

APU went 1-2 with Morgan Smyth (Park City, UT) claiming the second spot on the women’s podium with the U.S. Ski Team’s Morgan Arritola from Fairfield, ID in third.

“It was a great race out there today. Race officials managed to throw a great course together considering all the challenges they have faced over the week with the lack of snow,” said Bjornsen after her win. “I felt really great, hammered super hard the entire way and tried to stay positive. I knew that in order to make the podium today, I was going to need to put myself in a world of hurt- so I kept that thought in my head the entire way and just tried to keep the skis moving.

“Our wax techs did a great job of giving us fast skis that worked well, which is always nice in a classic race,” added the winner. “It was also fun to see how well my teammates did, with Morgan Smyth right behind me taking second place, and then a whole slew of APU’rs following. Thanks to everyone for the hard work today putting on the race! I had a great time!,”

Full results HERE.

Results (brief)

1. Sadie Bjornsen (APU) 32:09.9
2. Morgan Smyth  (APU) 32:40.0
3. Morgan Arritola (SVSEF) 32:58.5