Summer Biathlon WCH Trials/Nationals Results

Tue, Jul  22, 2008 - By Douglas E. Hoover, USBA

Twenty women and twenty-nine men from ten states competed in the 2008 USBA Summer Biathlon World Championship Trials and National Championships held July 18-20 at the Whitetail Preserve in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

After three days of competition, two Pennsylvanians emerged as the 2008 National Champions. Douglas Hoover of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania won his third consecutive men’s national title by winning both the Mass Start and Pursuit races and finishing fourth in the Sprint race. Stephanie Blackstone of Everett, Pennsylvania won her first national title as she also posted the fastest times of the Mass Start and Pursuit races. These two central Pennsylvanians lead a group of seven nominees to the USA World Championship Team.

MASS START (Friday, July 18)
In the women’s 5 km Mass Start race, Blackstone jumped out to a huge lead with a strong run and three prone penalties through the first two stages. Although she struggled with nine standing penalties in the final two stages, she continued to dominate on the running course and won the race by 3:30. This was Blackstone’s first time ever competing in the National Championship.

Leading the chase pack was junior Molly Susla of Freeport, Maine who competed in last year’s World Championship. Susla’s thirteen penalties and a strong run put her nearly a minute in front of fellow junior Katie Sick of Millville, Pennsylvania in third. Yet another junior, Kaitlyn Bernard of Fort Kent, Maine finished fourth.

The top master woman in the Mass Start was 2005 national champion Ann Sick of Millville, Pennsylvania. She finished sixth overall.

In the men’s 6 km Mass Start, Hoover shot a consistent two penalties in all four shooting stages and ran solid to lead the men’s field. He moved to the front of the field after the second stage of standing and never relinquished the lead after that point.

Master competitor and former national team member Danny Fink of Morgantown, West Virginia was the closest competitor, finishing 44 seconds back after recording twelve penalties. In third place was another former national team member…Patrick Bragassa of Rigby, Idaho.

Anthony Rizzo of Wapwallopen, Pennsylvania finished in fourth place overall and was the fastest junior. With nineteen penalties, he had to run very strong to capture the junior title.

Mass Start Award Recipients:

Junior Women
1 SUSLA, Molly
2 SICK, Katie
3 BERNARD, Kaitlyn

Senior Women
1 BLACKSTONE, Stephanie
2 GRAHAM, Erin
3 DOOLEY, Tracy

Master Women
1 SICK, Ann
2 ZERFAS, Patricia
3 PROROCK-ROGERS, Christine

Junior Men
1 RIZZO, Anthony
2 FISCHER, Christopher
3 SIMS, Alden

Senior Men
1 HOOVER, Douglas
2 PETERSON, Christian
3 DEWALD, Gahlord

Master Men
1 FINK, Danny
2 BRAGASSA, Patrick
3 GREENBERG, David

SPRINT (Saturday, July 19)
In the women’s 3 km Sprint race, Molly Susla won the second major race of her young career. Last year she won the Mass Start race at the trials. Shooting two penalties prone and three penalties standing, Susla used a strong run to win the race by 67 seconds over masters champion Ann Sick. Sick recorded a total of four penalties. Just three seconds behind Sick was the top senior woman and the 1996 national champion, Tracy Dooley of Arlington, Virginia.

The men’s 4 km sprint race was led by three master’s competitors as Bragassa and Fink took first and third, respectively. Bragassa recorded five penalties while Fink recorded four. Those two finished within ten seconds of each other. Sandwiched between them in second place was five-time national champion Keith Woodward of Stowe, Vermont. With just two penalties, Woodward nearly captured yet another race victory as he finished just four seconds behind Bragassa and six seconds in front of Fink.

Finishing fourth and winning the senior division was Hoover, who recorded four shooting penalties.

In fifth place overall was junior champion Alden Sims of Venus, Pennsylvania who recorded three penalties. He captured the junior title by a two second margin over Christopher Fischer of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Sprint Award Recipients:

Junior Women
1 SUSLA, Molly
2 BERNARD, Kaitlyn
3 SICK, Katie

Senior Women
1 DOOLEY, Tracy
2 GRAHAM, Erin
3 STRUNGIS, Traci

Master Women
1 SICK, Ann
2 ZERFAS, Patricia
3 PROROCK-ROGERS, Christine

Junior Men
1 SIMS, Alden
2 FISCHER, Christopher
3 RIZZO, Anthony

Senior Men
1 HOOVER, Douglas
2 PETERSON, Christian
3 DEWALD, Gahlord

Master Men
1 BRAGASSA, Patrick
2 WOODWARD, Keith
3 FINK, Danny

PURSUIT (Sunday, July 20)
In the women’s 5 km Pursuit race, Molly Susla recorded the second fastest time of the day and extended her lead over the field to win the third major race of her young career. Starting with a 1:07 on the field, she recorded twelve penalties and extended her lead over second place to 2:38.

Tracy Dooley lead all senior competitors as she recorded the third fastest time of the day to move from third at the start to second at the finish.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Blackstone moved all the way from fifteenth place at the start to third place at the finish. Since she did not race in the Sprint race the previous day, she started last on Sunday and made up 1:44 on the leader as she recorded the fastest time of the day.

Ann Sick once again led all masters as she dropped from second at the start to fourth at the finish, recording the fourth fastest time of the day.

In the men’s 6 km Pursuit race, Douglas Hoover produced a relatively solid 70% shooting performance to move from fourth at the start to capture his second overall title of the weekend, recording the fastest time of the day and winning his third senior division title.

Patrick Bragassa recorded the second fastest time of the day and held onto second place overall at the finish. He recorded eleven penalties and ran consistently to capture his second masters division title of the competition. Danny Fink held onto his third place starting position while Keith Woodward dropped from second at the start the fourth at the finish.

Anthony Rizzo recorded the third fastest time of the day to move up from ninth at the start to fifth at the finish and capture his second junior title of the weekend.

Pursuit Award Recipients:

Junior Women
1 SUSLA, Molly
2 BERNARD, Kaitlyn
3 SICK, Katie

Senior Women
1 DOOLEY, Tracy
2 BLACKSTONE, Stephanie
3 GRAHAM, Erin

Master Women
1 SICK, Ann
2 ZERFAS, Patricia
3 PROROCK-ROGERS, Christine

Junior Men
1 RIZZO, Anthony
2 FISCHER, Christopher
3 SIMS, Alden

Senior Men
1 HOOVER, Douglas
2 PETERSON, Christian
3 DEWALD, Gahlord

Master Men
1 BRAGASSA, Patrick
2 FINK, Danny
3 WOODWARD, Keith

FINAL RANKINGS

The final rankings for the 2008 Summer Biathlon National Championships and World Championship Trials are based on each competitor’s best two race performances.

Based on these results, two women and five men were nominated to represent the United States at the 2008 IBU Summer Biathlon World Championship in France this September:

Senior Women
Stephanie Blackstone Everett, Pennsylvania

Junior Women
Molly Susla Freeport, Maine

Senior Men
Douglas Hoover Williamsburg, Pennsylvania
Patrick Bragassa Rigby, Idaho
Danny Fink Morgantown, West Virginia
Keith Woodward Stowe, Vermont

Junior Men
Anthony Rizzo Wapwallopen, Pennsylvania

Final Women’s Overall Ranking:
1 BLACKSTONE, Stephanie (Senior) PA 105.38%
2 SUSLA, Molly (Junior) ME 100.67%
3 DOOLEY, Tracy (Senior) VA 95.31%
4 SICK, Katie (Junior) PA 95.18%
5 BERNARD, Kaitlyn (Junior) ME 95.11%
6 SICK, Ann (Master) PA 93.47%
7 GRAHAM, Erin (Senior) VT 90.33%
8 ZERFAS, Patricia (Master) MD 89.97%
9 SAUCY, Hilary (Junior) PA 85.66%
10 PROROCK-ROGERS, Christine (Master) NJ 82.22%
11 HUMPHRIES, Lorna "Tiki" (Master) ME 78.87%
12 NAULTY, Jeanice (Master) PA 77.48%
13 SICK, Hannah (Junior) PA 77.16%
14 SAUCY, Stephanie (Master) PA 77.10%
15 STRUNGIS, Traci (Senior) PA 72.59%
16 DRISCOLL, Patricia (Master) VT 68.39%
17 DALY, Erin (Junior) NY 52.51%
18 DALY, Cindy (Master) NY 4.04%

Cutoff Point for World Championship Qualification: 95.43%

Final Women’s Award Recipients:

Junior Women
1 SUSLA, Molly
2 SICK, Katie
3 BERNARD, Kaitlyn
4 SAUCY, Hilary

Senior Women
1 BLACKSTONE, Stephanie
2 DOOLEY, Tracy
3 GRAHAM, Erin
4 STRUNGIS, Traci

Master Women
1 SICK, Ann
2 ZERFAS, Patricia
3 PROROCK-ROGERS, Christine
4 HUMPHRIES, Lorna "Tiki"

Final Men’s Overall Ranking:
1 HOOVER, Douglas (Senior) PA 102.20%
2 BRAGASSA, Patrick (Master) ID 99.71%
3 FINK, Danny (Master) WV 99.66%
4 WOODWARD, Keith (Master) VT 96.20%
5 RIZZO, Anthony (Junior) PA 96.14%
6 FISCHER, Christopher (Junior) PA 92.88%
7 SIMS, Alden (Junior) PA 90.10%
8 GREENBERG, David (Master) NY 89.30%
9 BECK, Steve (Master) IA 86.85%
10 BRACKETT, Gary (Master) NY 85.65%
11 SKRABAL, Zbysek (Master) NY 84.24%
12 PETERSON, Christian (Senior) NJ 76.72%
13 SICK, Scott (Master) PA 73.32%
14 HINSHAW, Joel (Master) ME 71.66%
15 BROOKER, Kevin (Master) VT 71.16%
16 LEESTMA, Paul (Master) NJ 70.82%
17 CONNOR, Jack (Master) NY 70.31%
18 SIMS, John (Master) PA 70.07%
19 MYERS, Edward (Master) PA 68.44%
20 DALY, Tom (Master) NY 63.96%
21 SAUCY, Nathan (Junior) PA 54.77%
22 DOOLEY, Randy (Master) VA 48.02%
23 DEWALD, Gahlord (Senior) VT 43.21%
24 MARSAN, Michael (Master) NJ 37.67%
25 WOLFE, Dennis (Master) PA 12.79%

Cutoff Point for World Championship Qualification: 95.50%

Final Men’s Award Recipients:

Junior Men
1 RIZZO, Anthony
2 FISCHER, Christopher
3 SIMS, Alden
4 SAUCY, Nathan

Senior Men
1 HOOVER, Douglas
2 PETERSON, Christian
3 DEWALD, Gahlord

Master Men
1 BRAGASSA, Patrick
2 FINK, Danny
3 WOODWARD, Keith
4 GREENBERG, David

Click here for complete results 

Douglas E. Hoover
Competition Secretary
2008 USBA Summer Biathlon National Championships and World Championship Trial