CROSS-COUNTRY:

Gosling, Killick rule second day of Haywood Ski Nationals

March 17, 2010 — Canada Cross Country

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Banff’s Graeme Killick was Canadian champion for the second day in a row with a decisive 22-second victory over Thunder Bay's Chris Butler in the 15 km skating event at Haywood Ski Nationals.

Third place Wednesday went to U.S. skier Brenton Knight of Alask, while Pate Neumann of Canmore Ski Club won the Canadian championship bronze medal, finishing in fourth position. Drew Goldsack from Rocky Mountain Racers was the fourth Canadian, finishing a tenth of a second ahead of Foothills Nordic's Kevin Sandau.

Etienne Richard of Skibec was the junior men’s champion as three new skiers topped the podium, with Steffan Lloyd and Patrick Stewart-Jones of Nakkertok capturing the silver and bronze medals. Whitehorse skier Knute Johnsgaard was just over a second off bronze, finishing in fourth, and Nakkertok's Andrew Stewart-Jones was fifth.

There was some shakeup on the leaderboard as the women's 10 km skate races concluded at the Haywood Ski Nationals. Two seconds separated the top three in the junior women’s class.

Foothills Nordic's Brooke Gosling was crowned the 10 km skate champion, with teammate Shayla Swanson finishing second. Gosling skied a consistent race, leading throughout, and showed that she is one of the strongest distance skate skiers in the country by adding another national crown to her two skate victories in the 2009 Haywood Ski Nationals. Tuesday’s classic champ, Canmore's Chandra Crawford, grabbed the bronze medal by a less than a second over fellow Olympian Madeleine Williams of Edmonton. Another Foothills Nordic skier, Sara Hewitt, claimed fifth.

In the junior women's races, there were three new competitors on the podium as Annika Hicks of Canmore was the champion in an extremely close race, less than two seconds ahead of Rebecca Reid of Blackjack Ski Club. Stéphanie Drolet of Mont Ste. Anne was third, only .3 seconds later, Michelle Workun-Hill of Nakkertok was fourth and local Whitehorse skier Dahria Beatty was fifth.

CCUNC women’s champion was Sarah Peters from UBC, finishing over a minute ahead of Carleton's Alana Thomas, with Mary Thompson of Laurentian finishing third. On the men’s side, Ottawa's Carleton University filled the podium positions with Steffan Lloyd in first, Matthias Purdon in second and Whitehorse skier Colin Abbott third.  SRC