Double Podium for McCabe and Palmer-Leger Highlights Day One of U.S. National Championships

Monday, January 2

Houghton, Mich.

All Day

University of Utah

10K Freestyle

2023 US National Championships Women's FS Podium

Photo by: Chris Schmidt

Double Podium for McCabe and Palmer-Leger Highlights Day One of U.S. National Championships

1/2/2023 9:03 PM | Skiing

Results

McCabe won the RMISA race and finished second overall in the women’s 10K freestyle event

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Utah Ski Team opened up the RMISA portion of its 2023 schedule on Monday, competing in men's and women's 10K freestyle events at the U.S. National Championships. As the races were not part of an RMISA meet, individual results counted for NCAA qualification purposes but no team scores were kept.

Novie McCabe and Sydney Palmer-Leger led the charge for Utah in the women's race, with McCabe winning the RMISA event and placing second overall. Palmer-Leger was one spot behind her to seal the double-podium for the Utes.

"Today was a mix of results," said head Nordic coach Miles Havlick. "Novie and Sydney's double podium was definitely the highlight - they both skied super well and should be super proud of their result today. Karianne and Brian also had stand out results but I know they're are hungry for a little more in the coming races. The rest of the team was just a bit off - partially from the long travel, adjusting to the lower elevation and some skis that need to be better. I am really happy with everyone's efforts today though, and we will be looking to build on these results in the coming days."

Karianne Dengerud placed sixth in the RMISA results, followed up by Celine Mayer (15^th) and Ezra Smith to round out the Utah contingent in the overall top-20.

"Today was super fun," said McCabe. "I was really excited about the course, lots of long gradual uphills which are kind of my favorite. I had a pretty lucky start position, so I was getting lots of good splits throughout the race. I tried to go out hard and got a bit tired on that last lap, but overall I'm really happy with it!"

In the men's race, Brian Bushey was sixth in the RMISA results and Tom Mancini (15^th) and Walker Hall (18^th) earned top-20 finishes.

After a training day on Tuesday, Utah will return to competition on Wednesday with classic sprint action at the U.S. National Championships. The Utes are in Michigan this week without the services of Samuel Hendry and Sophia Laukli, both of whom are in Europe for the Tour de Ski.

Follow the Utah Ski Team on social media @utahskiteam.