USA Luge Names National Team for Fall 2009

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. --- Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.), who made history by becoming the first-ever World Champion for the USA in February, headlines a group of 18 sliders announced Thursday, May 21, to USA Luge’s fall 2009 national team. The squad consists of six women’s singles sliders, three doubles teams and five men’s singles sleds.

In addition to Hamlin, those named to the team include respective World Championship fifth and seventh-place finishers Julia Clukey (Augusta, Maine) and Ashley Walden (Westborough, Mass. and Lake Placid, N.Y.). 2006 Olympic fourth-place finisher Courtney Zablocki (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) will look to regain form after battling neck and hand problems last season as a member of the fall 2009 squad. Stacey Young (Merrick, N.Y.), who raced on the senior-level for the first time last year, will join team sophomore Megan Sweeney (Suffield, Conn.).

Two-time Olympic medalists and reigning World Championship bronze medalists Mark Grimmette (Muskegon, Mich. and Lake Placid, N.Y.) and Brian Martin (Palo Alto, Calif. and Lake Placid, N.Y.) will lead the U.S. doubles effort in the fall of 2009. Top-five World Cup finishers Christian Niccum (Woodinville, Wash.) and Dan Joye (Carmel, N.Y.) will return following a challenging season which forced the duo to take a break following the premature birth of Joye’s son Jett. Ninth-place World Championship finishers Matt Mortensen (Huntington Station, N.Y.) and Preston Griffall (Salt Lake City, Utah) to round out the fall team. Chris Mazdzer (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) and Jayson Terdiman (Berwick, Pa.) will not compete in doubles this season, as Mazdzer will focus on his singles sliding. The duo may chose to slide again following the 2010 Olympics. As a result, Terdiman will be placed with a new teammate at some point prior to the start of the fall sliding season. 

In men’s singles, World Championship 6th place finisher Bengt Walden (Westborough, Mass. and Lake Placid, N.Y.) and teammate Tony Benshoof (White Bear Lake, Minn.), 2006 Olympic fourth-place finisher, will lead the charge for the USA. 2008 Overall Junior World Cup silver medal winner Chris Mazdzer will return to the senior squad for his second full season. Robby Huerbin (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will continue to race as a member of the team, despite the fact that he is still eligible to compete as a member of the Junior National Team. Trent Matheson will graduate from the Junior ranks and enter his first season a Senior-level athlete. Joe Mortensen, who struggled with injuries last year, may be added to the team at the discretion of the coaching staff. 

While the team will report for their first training camp July 9-19 in Lake Placid, N.Y., a significant portion of the team will already be in residence in Lake Placid taking advantage of the U.S. Olympic Training Center and the USA Luge Indoor Luge Start Training Complex. 

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