March 09, 2010 (Presque Isle, ME) – The Irving Woodland classic sprints kicked of the 2010 USSA XC Junior Olympic Games in Presque Isle, ME, and the New England team took full advantage of their home snow. In what Team Leader, Janice Sibilia, surmised could be the largest single day accumulation of Alaska Cup points, Team New England had 16 top 5s, won 13 of the 18 possible medals, and led with three, top three sweeps of the podium.

In her report on the NENSA website – here – Sibilia notes: “What is exciting to me is that for the most part, each of these skiers is representing a different club – club systems are a critical element in athlete development and the depth of athletes in each age group here is indicative that the system is on the right track.”

Other noteworthy performances included: J2 boys, Cole Morgan, won the gold for InterMountain region, and Haakon Sigurslid won the bronze for Rocky Mountain; Alaska Division won two silvers thanks to Annie Liott in the girls J1 division and Rebecca Konieczny in the girls OJ division while OJ girl Corrine Malcolm of Intermountain took the bronze. Tomorrow are the individual classic events.

NENSA provided a helpful guide to the heats, so fans could see the progression of the athletes throughout the day – click here.

Full results here.

Results (brief)

J2 Girl: Corey Stock, New England
J2 Boys: Cole Morgan, Intermountain
J1 Girls: Isabel Caldwell, New England
J1 Boys: David Sinclair, New England
OJ Girls: Kaitlynn Miller, New England
OJ Boys: Alex Schulz, New England