JC Schoonmaker. Photo by Nordic Focus
APU skiers JC Schoonmaker and Novie McCabe sprinted their way to national championships Saturday in Duluth, Minnesota.
The pair won the classic sprint finals at Spirit Mountain Recreation Area, where more national titles will be determined Sunday and Tuesday.
Schoonmaker, 23, is coming off a splendid World Cup sprint season that included a bronze medal and several appearances in the quarterfinals and semifinals. He ended the World Cup season ranked 10th in the sprint standings.
No one could catch him Saturday as he zipped to his second national sprint title.
He registered the day’s fastest time on the 1.4-kilometer course during preliminaries (2 minutes, 50.46 seconds), took wins in his quarterfinal and semifinal races, and beat APU teammate Zanden McMullen in the finals by nearly one second.
The gold medal marks the third time Schoonmaker has climbed the podium at the U.S. championships. In 2022, he won the free sprint and took bronze in the 15K classic.
Zanden McMullen
It’s the second medal for McMullen, 22, who is coming off a promising debut season in the World Cup. A consistent top-30 figure on the international circuit, McMullen adds his silver medal from Saturday to a bronze he won last season in the 20K classic.
McCabe, meanwhile, started her collection of national-championship medals by grabbing gold in the women’s sprint finals. She won by .36 seconds.
APU’s Renae Anderson joined McCabe in the sprint finals, placing sixth.
It was the second win in two days for McCabe, 22, who topped a Super Tour distance race Friday in Duluth.
She took a 17-second victory in the 10K classic with a time of 26:27.0. Anderson finished eighth, more than a minute back.
In the men’s 10K, McMullen led the Alaska with a third-place finish. He was 17.3 seconds behind the winning pace of 22:39.8 set by Canada’s Antoine Cyr.
Five other Alaskans made the top 15 in the field of 66 racers — sixth-place Scott Patterson, seventh-place Hunter Wonders, eighth-place Luke Jager, 11th-place Schoonmaker and 13th-place Michael Earnhart.