Grand Rapids, MN – Denise Teela of Anchorage, AK and Jesse Downs of Sylvan Beach, NY, battled strong winds to score wins on the first day of the combined World University Games/ Junior World Championship Trials.

Teela, in her first season of biathlon competition, overcame a lack of biathlon experience to top an experienced field in the Women's 7.5K Sprint .In winning the senior women's category, she recorded 2 prone and 3 standing penalties, outdistancing overall runner-up Tracy Barnes by a mere 4 seconds, in 29:21. Barnes had only one penalty and won the junior division over Duluth's Carolyn Treacy. Her second place separated the Barnes' twins, who hail from Durango, CO. Lanny Barnes was the third junior women. Treacy recorded three penalties to Barnes' six.

Second in the senior women's category was Sarah Riley of the US Olympic Education Center in Marquette, MI. Riley, with four penalties finished 30 seconds behind Teela. Another 1:08 back was the National Guard's Erin Graham, also with 4 penalties.

Like the women, all of the men struggled with the wind on the shooting range. Jesse Downs. like Teela won his first-ever Trials competition. Both train with National Team Coach Algis Shalna. Downs had one prone penalty and two in standing to top the Men's 10K sprint in 29:13. Pre-race favorite, Lowell Bailey had six penalties and finished third, behind Olympian Dan Campbell of Hastings, MN. As in the 2002 Biathlon Olympic Trials, Campbell rode to second on solid 3 penalty shooting, 15 seconds behind Downs and 39 seconds ahead of Bailey.

Starting off where he ended last season, Tim Burke of Paul Smith's NY, dominated the junior men's competition. Burke shot clean on prone, but fighting the wind, missed 3 standing shots. His 31:09 for the 10K distance was a comfortable 1:18 ahead of Adam Van Stratten of Duluth,MN. Walter Shepard of Yarmouth, ME finished another 4 seconds back. Van Stratten and Shepard recorded five and 4 penalties, respectively.

Both the Youth Women's 6K and the Youth Men's 7.5K were won by athletes from the Junior National Team. Annilies Cook from Saranac Lake, NY and Kurt Farchmin, of Duluth, MN won those competitions. Cook's three penalties and time of 23:36 found her 24 seconds ahead of Marine, Minnesota's Sonne Nordgren. Farchmin's margin of victory was a mere 2 seconds over Grand Rapids' own Kevin Padzoldt . Padzoldt had three penalties to Farchmin's four.

These combined trials will continue on New Year's Day with p-pursuit competitions in all categories. They end on January 2 with a relay format sprint. At the conclusion of the Trials, junior athletes will be selected to compete in both the World University Games in Taravisio, Italy and the Junior World Biathlon Championships in Zakopane, Poland. Senior athletes are also competing for spots on the World University Games Team. Athletes must meet both placing and performance standards to qualify for either of the international competitions

The US Biathlon Team competes under the auspices of the United States Biathlon Association, the National Governing Body for the Olympic sport of Biathlon. Federal Cartridge, adidas, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and Exel Ski Poles sponsor the US Biathlon Team.