January 10, 2014 (Midway, Utah) – After two days of constant, warm snowfall, wax techs arrived to the venue early this morning prepared for the worst for the Classic sprints on the final day of the 2014 US Cross Country Championships in Soldier Hollow, Utah. Instead, they encountered stable conditions and well-groomed tracks that held up well throughout the day’s races providing a competition that would not disappoint.

Reese Hanneman leads Eric Bjornsen © Ian Harvey/Toko

On a 1.6-kilometer course, revised from Sunday’s sprint course to include a longer hill, Reese Hanneman (Alaska Pacific University) triumphed in the men’s competition for his first career title, followed by teammate Erik Bjornsen (APU) and Dakota Blackhorse-Von Jess (Bend Endurance Academy). On the women’s side, Central Cross Country’s (CXC) Natalja Narvshikina took the top honours on the podium with Rosie Brennan (APU) and Nicole Bathe (University of Alaska Fairbanks) below her. Brennan was awarded the title as Narvshikina is from Russia.

For the women, the course remained the same from earlier in the week, rounding around the stadium and building up halfway up Hermod’s Hill before descending back down into the finish. The men, on the other hand, raced to the top of the hill, as race organizers desired a course that could not be double poled.

Natalja Narishkina (#1) battles Brennan (#2) © Ian Harvey/Toko

“I really liked the longer course today,” said Hanneman. “It was a lot of really hard striding, a minute and half or more of climbing, so it suited me well.” Unlike most sprint races, throughout the day, whoever won the first hill generally won the sprint, on both the men’s and women’s sides.

“He’s been skiing strong for the last few months,” said Bjornsen after settling with second to his teammate. “I knew that if I wasn’t going to be with him at the top of the hill, then I wasn’t going to win.”

Dakota von Jess leading © Ian Harvey/Toko

On the women’s side, it was bib number one who crossed the finish line first in the final. Naryshikina, new to CXC after moving from Russia, won the qualifier by a fraction of a second over Brennan, which mirrored the last meters of the final heat. She said that her plan through each heat was to stay behind in the beginning and come to win in the end, which she executed well.

“The added uphill is good for me,” commented Brennan on the new course. Historically, her best races have been on classic days. Despite feeling tired in the morning, the Park-City native, said she could not give up the opportunity to race again at her home course.

Women's podium © Annie Pokorny

One of the most successful stories of the day was that of Nicole Bathe, a freshman in college who landed her first US National podium coming in third (second for American skiers).

“It’s not what I thought was going to happen, but I’m super excited about it,” said Bathe just before the podium ceremony. “I just tried to go for it, as hard as I could, I guess it worked out!”

Men's podium © Ian Harvey/Toko

Today, as the last day in a series, most racers had the same plan: go hard. “I had good skis and was feeling strong so I just focused on going out hard,” said Bjornsen. And that’s what they did, every day this week, which no doubt proved a great start to the winter racing season at it clicks into high gear.

Qualifications here.

Junior Women’s heats here.
Junior Men’s heats here.

Women’s heats here.
Men’s heats here.