By Gavin Kentch
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Racing in Lake Placid starts tomorrow. The U.S. is allotted a healthy 12 starters per race, a figure bolstered by its nation’s group quota. (I.e., additional start spots a country receives when it hosts a race. This is why the Norwegian men not only went one through eight in Holmenkollen last weekend, but also finished 11th, 12th, 27th, and 38th. Imagine being the tenth-best Norwegian man on the day and only finishing 12th. What a loser.)
Anyway. The roster of American starters for this weekend is both highly anticipated and, so far as I can tell, simply unpublished, either on the USSS site or anywhere else online.
So here it is. My source for this is the first tab of this spreadsheet. I have independently checked this against the relevant section of this criteria document; the former reflects the latter.
Strictly speaking, and the headline here notwithstanding, these are more precisely lists of qualified athletes, not starters per se. I clearly hope that everyone listed here is in good health and able to race this weekend, but I cannot affirmatively speak to that. Alternates have been listed for each category; the first alternate is listed first.
Here are the athletes qualified to start in Lake Placid in each of four categories. Everything here is straight from USSS, except that I spelled Nina Seemann’s name correctly. Yes that is snarky af, but also you should spell people’s names right.
Women’s distance
- Hailey Swirbul, APU
- Jessie Diggins, SMS
- Julia Kern, SMS
- Novie McCabe, APU
- Rosie Brennan, APU
- Luci Anderson, Team Birkie
- Kendall Kramer, APU
- Alayna Sonnesyn, Team Birkie
- Emma Albrecht, BSF
- Lauren Jortberg, CNEPH and Mansfield Pro
- Sammy Smith, Sun Valley
- Katey Houser, Montana State
- Alternates: Ava Thurston, Dartmouth; Emma Reeder, BSF
Women’s sprint
- Hailey Swirbul, APU
- Jessie Diggins, SMS
- Sammy Smith, Sun Valley
- Julia Kern, SMS
- Rosie Brennan, APU
- Lauren Jortberg, CNEPH and Mansfield Pro
- Alayna Sonnesyn, Team Birkie
- Ava Thurston, Dartmouth
- Emma Albrecht, BSF
- Nina Seemann, BSF
- Renae Anderson, APU
- Nina Schamberger, Colorado
- Alternates: Erin Bianco, BSF; Haley Brewster, Vermont
Men’s distance
- Zach Jayne, Utah
- Gus Schumacher, APU
- Zak Ketterson, Team Birkie
- Zanden McMullen, APU
- Ben Ogden, SMS
- Hunter Wonders, APU
- Luke Jager, APU
- JC Schoonmaker, APU
- John Steel Hagenbuch, Sun Valley
- Brian Bushey, Craftsbury
- Michael Earnhart, APU
- Ben Dohlby, Alaska Fairbanks
- Alternates: Reid Goble, BSF; Will Koch, Sun Valley
Men’s sprint
- Zach Jayne, Utah
- Gus Schumacher, APU
- Jack Young, Craftsbury
- Ben Ogden, SMS
- JC Schoonmaker, APU
- Kevin Bolger, Team Birkie
- Zak Ketterson, Team Birkie
- Zanden McMullen, APU
- Murphy Kimball, Alaska Anchorage
- John Schwinghamer, Craftsbury
- Owen Young, Vermont
- Will Koch, Sun Valley
- Alternates: Michael Earnhart, APU; Adam Witkowski, Team Birkie
Racing begins tomorrow with the 10-kilometer interval-start classic. Nordic Insights will have folks on site all weekend for coverage.
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