Rose Oval In Minnesota Hosts Age Group Nationals Long Track
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by Paul D. Bowker
Leo Drossos-Thompson won three individual events and Elise Stave won two as each claimed their respective Overall Classification Title at the US Speedskating Long Track Age Group Nationals, held this past weekend in Roseville, Minnesota.
Drossos-Thompson, of the Northbrook Speedskating Club in suburban Chicago, topped the Junior A/Senior Men’s class with 38,000 points. Stave, of Roseville’s Midway Speedskating Club and skating on home ice at the Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval, topped the Junior B/Senior Women’s class with 34,400 points. (There was no Junior A/Senior Women’s class.)
The competition was held Feb. 3 and 4 at the John Rose Minnesota Oval, drawing more than 60 skaters who were classified into multiple classes following 50-meter time trials.
Drossos-Thompson reached the podium in all four individual events, winning the 1000m, 1500m and 3000m races, and finishing second to Zachary Jensen in the 500m. He won the 1000m by nearly two seconds in 1:40.797, the 1500m in 2:52.204 and the 3000m in 4:35.351.
Stave also reached the podium in all four distances, winning at 1500m and 3000m, finishing as runner-up in the 500m and placing third in the 1000m. Stave won the 1500m in 2:26.503 and the 3000m in 5:55.656.
Leah Choi, of Puget Sound Speedskating in Washington, reached the podium in three events, finishing second in the 1000m, 1500m and 3000m. She finished runner-up to Stave in the overall standings. Samantha Scheffler, of the Danbury (Conn.) Speedskating Club, was the other skater to win two races, claiming the 500m in 45.660 seconds and the 1000m in 1:39.754 to take third in the overall standings.
Jensen, of Midway Speedskating, finished second to Drossos-Thompson in the Men’s Overall Classification. He won the 500m in 39.780 seconds and finished second to Drossos-Thompson in the 1000m and 1500m. He was third in the 3000m, finishing behind Drossos-Thompson and Ryan Olijnyk. Olijnyk, of Northbrook Speedskating, posted third-place finishes in the 1000m and 1500m to take third overall.
Riley Martin, of Midway Speedskating, reached the podium with a third-place finish at 500m.
On the women’s side, Selena Su, of Garden State Speedskating, had third-place finishes in the 1500m and 3000m. Keeley Whitcomb, of Midway Speedskating, finished third in the 500m.
Elise and Elena Stave teamed up with Whitcomb to win the Women’s Team Pursuit. Drossos-Thompson and Olijnyk combined with Aiden Meacham to win the Men’s Team Pursuit.
Evie (Genevieve) Forrer, of the Wisconsin Speed Skating Club, won three times in the Women’s Junior C competition, at 800m, 1000m and 1500m, to claim the Overall Title. Valery Molinares Rodriguez, of Midway Speedskating, swept the Women’s Junior D events with wins at 400m, 500m, 600m and 800m.
Calvin Joonhyuk Im, of Puget Sound Speedskating, won three events in the Junior B Men’s competition, 500m, 1000m and 1500m, to claim the overall title. Samuel Chamberlain, of Midway Speedskating, had three wins in the Junior C Men’s class, at 500m, 800m and 1000m. Colin Lee, of Puget Sound Speedskating, won three times in the Junior D Men’s class, at 400m, 500m and 600m.
Chamberlain, Landon Bogee, Ashwin Konduru and Kieran Collins combined to win the Junior C/D Men Team Pursuit.
In the Combined Masters class, Bruce Guthrie, of the Whatcom Speed Skating Club in Bellingham, Washington, topped the standings with 40,000 points following wins at 500m, 800m, 1000m and 1500m. He also partnered with Richard Fuhr and Paul Pudiate to win the Team Pursuit.
Held in conjunction with Short Track Age Group Nationals was the Future of Speed Camp. Hosted along side Midway Speedskating Club, it was the first Future of Speed 'Let’s RACE' event last weekend at Long Track Age Group Nationals. The event utilized the new challenge race format that saw athletes compete in eight races over four distances.
"The kids had a ton of fun," said Director of Partnerships and Development Chris Needham. "The weather was perfect and the kids got to learn tips that will help them through the rest of their skating careers."
In addition athletes enjoyed over an hour of extra time on the ice developing skills to help them skate faster along with dryland workouts and games to keep it fun the whole weekend.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympicsports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USSpeedskating.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
