March 21, 2011 (Mt. Itasca, Coleraine, MN) – – In sharp contrast to Saturday’s beautiful weather, light rain and fog greeted the athletes on Sunday, day three of  the U.S. Biathlon National Championships.  Fortunately the course was still relatively fast and firm for the Mass Start competitions.

Annelies Cook  (Saranac Lake, NY) finished up her very best biathlon season with her second National Championships title, overcoming seven penalites with very strong skiing. Susan Dunklee (Craftsbury, VT) placed second with six penalties, and Tracy Barnes (Durango, CO) rounded out the podium with the best shooting of the day, three penalties.  All three of the senior women had excellent international seasons, with Annelies Cook competing at Antholz, Presque Isle, and Fort Kent World Cups; Susan Dunklee had two top-10 IBU Cup finishes on the IBU Cup; and Tracy Barnes had a career best finish 17th and 19th place at IBU Cup Nowe Mesto and Altenberg.

In the senior men race, it was Russell Currier (Caribou, ME) who overcame two rough prone stages with excellent skiing and hitting nine of his 10 standing targets to win by 52 seconds.  A tight battle for second place played out between Mark Johnson (Grand Rapids, MN) and Bill Bowler (Wausau, WI).  Both had one penalty on the last shooting, and Bowler trailed Johnson by 15 seconds after the penalty loop. By 2.5km into the 3.0km loop, Bowler had caught and passed Johnson but a quick counter attack in the last 100m gave Johnson second place.

Full results from the 2011 National Championships  are available HERE.

Other class winners were:

Girls 7.5k :
1. Anna Kubek, Duluth, MN
2. Solveig Viren, Grand Rapids, MN
3. Elise Putnam, Methow Valley, WA

Youth Women 7.5k:
1. Carly Wynn, Queensbury, NY
2.  Kelly Kjorlien, Grand Rapids, MN
3.  Tera Geraghty-Moats, Craftsbury, VT

Junior Women 12k
1.  Corrine Malcolm, Hayward, WI
2.   Andrea Mayo, Fort Kent, ME

Boys 10k:
1.  Sean Doherty, New Hampshire
2.  Nick Proell, St Cloud, MN
3.  Jake Prince, Anchorage, AK

Youth Men 10km
1.  Casey Smith, Methow Valley, WA
2.  Ray Wonders, Anchorage, AK
3.  Kyle Rutar, Casper, WY

Junior Men 15k
1.  Raleigh Goessling, Duluth, MN
2.  Ethan Dreissigacker, Craftsbury, VT
3. Michalel Giblson, Burlington, VT

Master Men 30-39
1.  Sean Kato, Methow Valley, WA
2.  Frank Gangi, Grand Rapids, MN
3. Wayne Peterson, New Hampshire

Master Men 40-49
1.  Phil Rogers, Duluth, MN
2.  Dave Cleveland, Boulder, CO
3.  Brian Woodard, Boulder, CO

Master Men 50-59
1.  John Neal, Marshfield, WI
2.  Johnny Ingdal, New Brighton, MN
3.  Tony Carter, Colerine, MN

Masters Women 40-49
1.  Lori Selbi, Washington Biathlon

Masters Women 50-59
1.  Linda Wolf, Wisconsin Biathlon