(USABS Press Release)
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (Oct. 23, 2016)- Five-time USA Skeleton National Champion and 2014 Olympic bronze medalist Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wis.) holds the top spot after day one of men’s skeleton team trials. Despite already having a spot secured on the national team thanks to a fourth place overall international rank last season, World Cup medalist Annie O’Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) raced for the lead after day one of the women’s skeleton competition.
“We have another strong crew of veterans and rookies competing for a spot on the team this season, and it’s exciting to coach this talented team,” said USA Skeleton Head Coach Tuffy Latour. “The track manager, Tony Carlino, and his crew did an amazing job preparing the track for our race. After hours of rain, we were hit with a snowstorm and power outages, and it was no small feat to prepare the track for our races. Hats off to these guys for giving us the best conditions possible.”
After unseasonably warm weather last week the Adirondacks were slammed by a snowstorm that shut down power for several areas, including Mount Van Hoevenberg. Races were delayed, but the track crew worked diligently to get Team USA on ice.
Athletes will compete again in Lake Placid tomorrow before trials move on to Park City, Utah. The USA Skeleton National Team will be named at the conclusion of the four race series on Nov. 3. Athletes are vying for one of six spots in each gender. The top three ranked women and three men will race on the World Cup circuit, while the next three women and three men will compete on the Intercontinental Cup.
Antoine was dominant today, winning the first of four races by a monster margin of 1.48 seconds. Antoine posted runs of 54.96 and 54.79 seconds for a total time of 1:49.75 to set the pace for Team USA’s men.
“I had a rough beginning of the week for training and we had sporadic sliding days, which didn’t help the situation, but it’s the beginning of the season and there are a lot of challenges that come with the weather. We made due with what we could, ” Antoine said. “Once I got back into a consistent schedule, I really didn’t have a good training day until yesterday and that gave me a lot of confidence that I could come out and slide the way I know I’m capable of.”
Antoine said he was most pleased with his push times, 4.98 and 4.94, which were second and first fastest of the day, respectively.
“I haven’t pushed that fast in a couple years, and that was a little bit of a relief, just to see that I’m back on the right track,” Antoine said. “When you walk to the line and you know you’re going to be fast at the start, it helps everything else from there on down.”
Although Antoine has been the top competitor for the men’s program for several years now, he said he goes into the season on par with everyone, battling for the same spots.
“The reality is I’m sitting the same place that everyone else is right now, I have to earn my spot on the team and that’s the mentality that I have in these trials,” Antoine said.
Nathan Crumpton (Park City, Utah), who had an impressive 2015-2016 season that included a fifth place World Cup finish in Park City and a top-10 at World Championships, was the closest competitor to Antoine in second place. Crumpton clocked runs of 55.81 and 55.42 seconds for a combined time of 1:51.23 to put himself in fighting position for a World Cup spot.
Kyle Tress (Ewing, N.J.) opted to take a break from sliding last season and is back to top form after his brief hiatus. Tress was securely in third today with a total time of 1:51.84.
“I just didn’t really have the heart for it this year,” Tress was quoted at the beginning of the 2015-2016 season. After a year committed to training and coaching, Tress is back and hungry again for competition.
Six-year veteran Greg West (Springfield, Mo.) finished fourth in 1:51.98. Rookie Austin Florian (Southington, Conn.) rallied for fifth place with a total of 1:51.31. Florian is a recent graduate of Clarkson University, where he was a competitive ski racer. He dabbled in skeleton over the last two seasons while at Clarkson, and is now committed to skeleton. He posted the fastest start time of the first heat, 4.97.
Kyle Brown (Concord, N.H.), who also had a successful 2015-2016 season with two medal performances in the Intercontinental Cup and a sixth place result in Lake Placid’s World Cup, rounded out the top six with a two-run total of 1:52.39.
In the women’s race, O’Shea was 0.02 seconds off the pace of Savannah Graybill (Denver, Pa.) after the first run with a time of 56.73 seconds, but the veteran rallied back in run two with a time of 56.83 seconds to take over the lead.
“I think that team trials prepares you for the season better than you can expect,” O’Shea said. “It’s great having a spot already on the team because I was able to test sleds, test runners, really try different things this week. I was stress free but I woke up this morning with race jitters and it reminded me that it was time to race. Racing your teammates is the hardest thing we do, it’s what makes us the best, it’s what makes us better.”
O’Shea won race one by 0.05 seconds with a combined time of 1:53.56. She said she is entering the season with the same goal as last season; to take each run at a time.
“This is a new year, and my goal is to not look back and compare,” O’Shea said. “Last season I approached every day as a new day, and that’s what I’m continuing. I can use what I learned from last year, but I won’t compare to last year.”
Graybill set the current Lake Placid track record en route to a USA National Championship title in 2015 and was a favorite for the first races in trials. She was barely edged out by O’Shea with a combined time of 1:53.61.
Three-time Olympian Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.) enters this season healthy and strong, and she finished third in 1:54.16 after clocking runs of 57.16 and 57.00. Phenom Kendall Wesenberg (Modesto, Calif.) was fourth in 1:54.56.
Veronica Day (Vienna, Va.) finished day one in fifth with a total time of 1:54.63, and Kellie Delka (Collinsville, Texas) was sixth in 1:55.21.
Results:
Men’s skeleton
1. Matt Antoine 1:49.75 (54.96, 54.79);
2. Nathan Crumpton 1:51.23 (55.81, 55.42);
3. Kyle Tress 1:51.84 (55.84, 56.00);
4. Greg West 1:51.98 (55.97, 56.01);
5. Austin Florian 1:52.31 (55.92, 56.39);
6. Kyle Brown 1:52.39 (56.20, 56.19);
7. Mike Rogals 1:52.55 (56.22, 56.33);
8. Stephen Garbett 1:52.60 (56.31, 56.29);
9. Jake Miter 1:52.62 (56.44, 56.18);
10. Allen Blackwell 1:52.98 (56.58, 56.40);
11. Alex Ivanov 1:53.07 (56.60, 56.47);
12. Austin McCrary 1:53.14 (56.40, 56.74);
13. Jimmy Nguyen 1:54.33 (56.58, 57.75);
14. Mike Strahler 1:54.65 (57.29, 57.36);
15. Mike Terry 1:54.79 (57.31, 57.48);
16. John Ivy 1:55.00 (57.24, 57.76);
17. Trent Kraychir 1:55.26 (57.42, 57.84);
18. Alex Rouse 1:55.33 (57.86, 57.47);
19. Rob Germaine 1:56.34 (58.42, 57.92);
20. Andrew Blaser 1:57.60 (59.56, 58.04);
21. Nic Taylor 1:59.67 (1:00.27, 59.40);
Women’s skeleton
1. Annie O’Shea 1:53.56 (56.73, 56.83);
2. Savannah Graybill 1:53.61 (56.71, 56.90);
3. Katie Uhlaender 1:54.16 (57.16, 57.00);
4. Kendall Wesenberg 1:54.56 (57.15, 57.41);
5. Veronica Day 1:54.63 (57.17, 57.46);
6. Kellie Delka 1:55.21 (57.74, 57.47);
7. Gracie Clapp Taylor 1:55.69 (57.75, 57.94);
8. Megan Henry 1:55.82 (57.60, 58.22);
9. Samantha Culiver 1:55.90 (57.71, 58.19);
10. Tracey Morgan 1:56.56 (57.75, 58.81);
11. Leslie Stratton 1:57.15 (58.75, 58.40);
12. Rebecca Hass 1:57.29 (58.60, 58.69);
13. Kelly Curtis 1:57.55 (59.32, 58.32);
14. Kristen Hurley 1:58.01 (58.99, 59.02);
15. Megan Dovell 1:58.61 (59.09, 59.52);
16. Katie Andress 2:00.06 (59.92, 1:00.14);
