| PARK CITY, UT (Sept. 26) - The 2009 roster for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team is stacked with talent and full of determination and momentum for the coming season. The team includes World Cup winner Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), who became the first woman to win a cross country World Cup competition last season in Rybinsk, Russia, and up and coming racer Liz Stephen (East Montpelier, VT) who won a bronze medal at the U23 Championships. "What an awesome team with veterans who have been getting onto World Cup podiums, and a field of younger athletes who are displaying their dedication to being the greatest cross country skiers this country has ever had," said USSA Nordic Director John Farra. "The professionalism and commitment of the entire crew is obvious and I can't wait to see what they can accomplish in this World Championships season." "Last season was one of our best and the training we've done this summer is, I feel, better than we had done last summer," Cross Country Head Coach Pete Vordenberg said. "So, I'm really excited about this coming season." After becoming the first U.S. woman to break the top three of a World Cup cross country and, only a year later, becoming the first woman to win a World Cup, Randall will lead the Team's women with her "no guts, no glory" mentality in the hunt for additional milestones in U.S. Cross Country Ski Team history. "She seems to be ahead of where she was last year," Vordenberg said. "She's definitely the team leader and she has a lot of really talented girls who are right behind her. They'll be pushing her this season for sure." Stephen, a Westminster College student in Utah, will be back in the hunt again this season after taking home her first international medal at the U23 Championships last February. "What's important with a younger crew is they have success at the level they're at," Vordenberg said. "The training that they've done and the testing that they've done, we've seen that they should have continued success at that level." The 2009 U.S. Cross Country Ski Team (including date of birth, hometown and club program; * indicates Olympian): A Team-Female Kikkan Randall (12/31/82; Anchorage, AK; Alaska Pacific University Nordic)* B Team Rosie Brennan (12/2/88; Park City, UT; National Sports Foundation) Lindsey Dehlin (7/2/84; Mahtomedi, MN; Northern Michigan University)* Liz Stephen (1/12/87; East Montpelier, VT; Burke Mountain Academy) Alexa Turzian (8/13/88; Sun Valley, ID; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) Laura Valaas (3/2/84; Wenatchee, WA; Alaska Pacific University Nordic) Lindsay Williams (6/16/84; Hastings, MN; Northern Michigan University)* |
