December 20, 2008 (Stowe, VT) – University of Vermont skier Jennie Bender (Johnson, VT) opened a large gap on the final hill of Saturday’s one kilometer women’s sprint final at Trapp Family Lodge and earned victory in the season’s first Eastern Cup. In the men’s final, Maine Winter Sports Center’s David Chamberlain (Caribou, ME) similarly skied away from the field, earning the victory by a large margin. Dartmouth College teammates Sophie Caldwell (Peru, VT) and Ida Sargent (Orleans, VT) battled the challenging course to earn the other spots on the women’s podium. For men, it was University of Vermont’s Juergen Uhl (Muehlenback, GER) in second and Middlebury’s Tim Reynolds (Bristol, VT) grabbing third.

J2 Girls Heather Mooney (Stratton) and Tara Geraghty-Moats (Craftsbury) impressed in qualifying and made it into the Women’s Heats to earn first and second place for the J2’s. Meanwhile, Emily Nice (Ford Sayre) won the J2 Girls Heats and earned third place. The J2 Boys raced through to an exciting final where Hans Halvorsen (GMVS), Jackson Rich (CSU) and Patrick Caldwell (Ford Sayre) earned the top three spots.Saturday’s weather alternated with snow showers and brilliant sun bringing out the winter beauty of the Trapp Family Lodge venue.

The TD Banknorth Eastern Cup begins its fourteenth year as NENSA’s signature race series and features many of the nation’s best cross-country skiers. The Trapp Touring Center has been blessed with early season snow and the snow cover has been enhanced with their expansive snowmaking system. Saturday’s one kilometer classic technique sprint race and Sunday’s five and ten kilometer freestyle technique races are using the center’s new John Morton designed race courses.

Sunday will see Olympians Justin Freeman and Andrew Johnson join today’s sprinters in a 10 kilometer freestyle technique race and East Montpelier, Vermont’s Liz Stephen will add strength to the women’s field in their 5 kilometer freestyle.

Full women’s results here.
Full men’s results here.