2006 Outdoor Nationals - Day 2 Crash, Battles Highlight 10K Points Elimination
Bowe remains undefeated; Mantia loses one
By Planet staff
(posted Saturday, May 27, 2006) A 13-year-old Virginia girl outskated a large field of older girls today to win the junior women's 10,000-meter points elimination at Outdoor Nationals in Colorado Springs. Alexandra Harris, who moved up from the freshman girl's division this year, won the race after an epic see-saw battle with Simmons' Emily Scott, 17. Later in the day, Brittany Bowe won the World Class women's division, extending her unbeaten streak to three races; Jonathan Garcia won the men's division; and Hank Galbraith won the junior men's division after a crash that sent 12 skaters to the medical tent and one to the hospital. The event for junior women (under 18) was one of the highlights of the day. Alexandra Harris and Emily Scott pulled away from the pack with 18 of 50 laps to go in the 10K race. "They traded points back and forth," said Junior World Team coach Linda Wood. In the event, the skater who crosses the line first on each lap gets one point, except for the final lap, which is worth three points for first, two points for second, and one point for third. Finally, after 49 laps, Harris had 15 points and Scott had 16. That meant that the younger girl could still win if she could beat Scott to the finish line. On the final lap, "they were fighting side by side into the last turn and then down the straightaway," Wood said. Harris hawked at the line to win in a photo finish. "It was thrilling," Wood said. In the junior men's race, a pileup took more than half of the skaters out of the race. On the 12th lap, a group just behind the leaders came around a turn bunched up five skaters wide. One fell, triggering the pileup. "They went flying all different ways. Some did the Superman, some rolled," Wood said. In all, 12 skaters were treated for cuts and bruises at the medical tent. Another, Chris Springer, went to the hosptial, where he was treated for a chipped hip bone and broken arm. The Virginia teen returned to the track later in the day on crutches. All of the skaters who fell were taken out of contention in the race. That left High Point's Hank Galbriath, Luigino's Chad Horne, Terrell Bradley and Kevin Quandt (Liberty Sports) to battle for points. Horne, who won both junior men's events Friday, collected 12 points before dropping behind the leaders with six laps to go. Bradley collected 8 before he got left behind. Galbriath beat Quandt in the sprint to seal his victory with 14 points. In the men's race, it came down to the final sprint between Simmons' Jonathan Garcia and Luigino's Joey Mantia, who won both the 300-meter time trial and 1000 meters on Friday. Garcia skated hard through the final turn while Mantia dropped low and tried to get past him on the inside. "Garcia came off the turn with awesome speed and beat Joey in the sprint by about 10 feet," Wood said. "It was one of those times when Joey" — last year's World Team standout — "was human." In the women's race, Luigino's Brittany Bowe narrowly defeated Hyper's Jessica Smith, an 11-time world champion, to continue her unbroken string of victories at this year's Outdoor Nationals. Bowe, 18, is skating in the World Class women's division for the first time this year. Top finishers: 10,000-meter points elimination
Junior women - Alexandra Harris
- Emily Scott
- Brianna Kramer
- Heather Richardson
World Class Women - Brittany Bowe
- Jessica Smith
- Kelly Gunther
- Erin DiJulio
Junior men - Hank Galbraith
- Chad Horne
- Terrell Bradley
- Kevin Quandt
World Class Men - Jonathan Garcia
- Joey Mantia
- Sebastian Cano
- Dane Lewis
(Results provided by George Neal of Liberty Sports.) • Go to Outdoor Nationals
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