Benshoof, Hamlin, Grimmette, Martin claim Norton National Titles
Gordy Sheer March 16, 2009
Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
Tony Benshoof (pictured here last month) won his seventh Norton National Championship title this past weekend.
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (March 14, 2009) - Tony Benshoof ended a difficult luge season on a high note by claiming his seventh-career Norton National Championship title at the Olympic Sports Complex. He joined Erin Hamlin, winner in today’s March 14 women’s competition, and the doubles team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin on the top step of the podium.
Clear skies and warming temperatures greeted the nation’s top luge athletes as they arrived at the luge course on Mt. Van Hoevenberg. 2006 Olympic fourth-place finisher Benshoof (White Bear Lake, Minn.), riding on a brand-new set of runners, clocked a two-run combined time of one minute, 45.401 seconds to take the gold. Benshoof missed several World Cup events following back surgery on Dec. 26, 2008.
“My back felt great this weekend and I can feel it getting stronger,” said Benshoof, the most successful men’s athlete in USA Luge history. “I am happy with the new steels and they show a lot of promise, since steels tend to get faster as you refine their edge shape and work with them over time.”
Robbie Huerbin (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who held the lead after the first heat of racing, took the silver in 1:45.550, edging out last year’s National Champion Bengt Walden. Walden’s bronze medal-winning time was 1:45.601.
Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.), the reigning World Champion, clocked a total time of 1:28.568 en route to her second-consecutive Norton National Championship title. Her first run time of 44.199 was just over two-tenths of a second slower than her track record time of 43.985, noteworthy because she set the record under substantially better track conditions. Julia Clukey (August, Maine), fifth –place finisher at this year’s World Championship, was second with a time of 1:28.977, while Megan Sweeney (Suffield, Conn.) earned her third-career Norton National Championship bronze medal in 1:29.430.
2009 World Championship bronze medalists Grimmette (Muskegon, Mich. and Lake Placid, N.Y.) and Brian Martin (Palo Alto, Calif. and Lake Placid, N.Y.) returned to the top of the Norton National Championship podium following a one-year absence. The two-time Olympic medalists crossed the finish line in 1:28.334, just .095 over silver medalists Christian Niccum (Woodinville, Wash.) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y.), last year’s National Champions. Niccum and Joye, who raced to a finish time of 1:28.429, posted the fastest time of the second heat but it was not enough to overtake the race lead. 2008 Junior World Championship silver medalists Chris Mazdzer (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) and Jayson Terdiman (Berwick, Pa.) took the bronze in 1:28.837.
Members of the team can elect to continue sliding and conduct sled testing in Lake Placid until late April.
For more information on the Fastest Sport on Ice®, log on to www.usaluge.org.
Clear skies and warming temperatures greeted the nation’s top luge athletes as they arrived at the luge course on Mt. Van Hoevenberg. 2006 Olympic fourth-place finisher Benshoof (White Bear Lake, Minn.), riding on a brand-new set of runners, clocked a two-run combined time of one minute, 45.401 seconds to take the gold. Benshoof missed several World Cup events following back surgery on Dec. 26, 2008.
“My back felt great this weekend and I can feel it getting stronger,” said Benshoof, the most successful men’s athlete in USA Luge history. “I am happy with the new steels and they show a lot of promise, since steels tend to get faster as you refine their edge shape and work with them over time.”
Robbie Huerbin (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who held the lead after the first heat of racing, took the silver in 1:45.550, edging out last year’s National Champion Bengt Walden. Walden’s bronze medal-winning time was 1:45.601.
Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.), the reigning World Champion, clocked a total time of 1:28.568 en route to her second-consecutive Norton National Championship title. Her first run time of 44.199 was just over two-tenths of a second slower than her track record time of 43.985, noteworthy because she set the record under substantially better track conditions. Julia Clukey (August, Maine), fifth –place finisher at this year’s World Championship, was second with a time of 1:28.977, while Megan Sweeney (Suffield, Conn.) earned her third-career Norton National Championship bronze medal in 1:29.430.
2009 World Championship bronze medalists Grimmette (Muskegon, Mich. and Lake Placid, N.Y.) and Brian Martin (Palo Alto, Calif. and Lake Placid, N.Y.) returned to the top of the Norton National Championship podium following a one-year absence. The two-time Olympic medalists crossed the finish line in 1:28.334, just .095 over silver medalists Christian Niccum (Woodinville, Wash.) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y.), last year’s National Champions. Niccum and Joye, who raced to a finish time of 1:28.429, posted the fastest time of the second heat but it was not enough to overtake the race lead. 2008 Junior World Championship silver medalists Chris Mazdzer (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) and Jayson Terdiman (Berwick, Pa.) took the bronze in 1:28.837.
Members of the team can elect to continue sliding and conduct sled testing in Lake Placid until late April.
For more information on the Fastest Sport on Ice®, log on to www.usaluge.org.
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