Unheralded Laura McCabe of Park City, Utah, and Luke Bodensteiner, a two-time NCAA champion for the University of Utah, opened the Olympic cross-country ski trials Saturday with victories in 3-degree weather.
McCabe, who didn't ski cross-country until after she had graduated from Utah, won the 15-kilometer freestyle race at Kincaid Park in 45 minutes, 13.2 seconds on the first day of the U.S. Cross Country Championships.Runner-up in 45:32.1 was two-time Olympian Ingrid Butts, McCabe's frequent training mate in Park City. Laura Wilson of Montpelier, Vt., a four-time NCAA champion at Vermont, was third in 46:11.9.
In the men's 30-kilometer, also using the freestyle technique, Bodensteiner, of West Bend, Wis., seized control at the start and kept building his lead. He finished in 1 hour, 17 minutes, 14 seconds, with 1992 Olympian John Aalberg of Salt Lake City second in 1:18.03.
Pete Vordenberg, a Northern Michigan University student from Boulder, Colo., and a 1992 Olympic racer, was third in 1:19.09.
"I grew up Alpine skiing (in Bozeman, Mont.) and did a lot of back-country skiing," McCabe said, "but I never skied in tracks until after I got out of school. I was working at Jeremy Ranch (near Park City) and decided I had to learn. That was about four years ago."
She said the race, on a rolling course over hard-packed snow, "was just right for me. I really liked the course. And, starting just ahead of Ingrid, it was just like a training session for us back in Park City."
Butts, an Olympian in 1988 and 1992, said she enjoyed the course, too.
"There were a couple of downhills where you could catch your breath and rest a little. It got a little cold in a couple of places but it wasn't too bad," she said.
Bodensteiner said he "figured if I was going to have a weak race, this would be it, so I'm really excited. My eyes froze over the last three laps, so I had to close 'em on the downhills but it worked OK. The wind coming around my glasses froze my eyes."
Illness knocked national team skiers Leslie Thompson of Stowe, Vt., Ben Husaby of Eden Prairie, Minn., and John Bauer of Champlin, Minn., out of the races.
The series continues Monday with another freestyle technique race for men and women.
Up to 17 men and women will be chosen for next month's Olympics, based on a skier's two best results during four races at Kincaid. The Olympic squad will be named Jan. 15 after the final event.