Pyeongchang 2018

DALY RETURNS TO THE TRACK

Day six of PyeongChang competition proved to be a busy day for Team USA’s collegiate athletes. With five sports featuring student-athletes, the U.S. saw inspiring performances across the board.

Skeleton

SUNY Plattsburgh’s John Daly kicked off U.S. collegiate competition at the Olympic Sliding Centre. After two heats, the U.S. skeleton athlete sits in 13th.  The former track and field standout posted two heat times of 51:23 and 51:15, and is currently a little more than one second behind the leader heading into the final races.

Daly placed 15th in the same event in Sochi; he will look to race his way to the podium Friday morning KST in the finals.

Women’s hockey

Despite outshooting their opponents 45-23, the U.S. women fell to rival Canada, 2-1, in the final preliminary game. Even with the loss, Team USA clinched a quarterfinals bye in the elimination round.

Between the two squads, 41 athletes – 23 from the U.S. and 18 from Canada – played ice hockey collegiately at 16 different schools. Every goal tallied in the game came off the stick of a student-athlete.

After a scoreless, back-and-forth first period, Canada jumped out to a 2-0 lead after goals by Meghan Agosta (Mercyhurst) and Sarah Nurse (Wisconsin).

Team USA came out hard in the final period. Less than one minute in, forward Kendall Coyne (Northeastern) took a pass from Brianna Decker (Wisconsin) to get the red, white and blue on the scoreboard. Despite generating numerous additional offensive opportunities, the U.S. could not get the equalizer before time ran out.

Catch Team USA play next in the semifinals of the elimination rounds on Monday at the Gangneung Hockey Centre.

To read more on the contest, visit TeamUSA.org.

Snowboard

Three-time Olympian and former Northern Michigan football player Nick Baumgartner finished just off the podium in fourth during the snowboard cross Thursday afternoon. After advancing through four qualification rounds, Baumgartner was slowed down by a crash during the final, which ultimately pushed him off the podium.

The fourth-place finish marks the Michigan native’s top Olympic finish to-date, after having previously placed 25th in the same event in Sochi.

Biathlon

Dartmouth’s Susan Dunklee posted Team USA’s top biathlon finish thus far in South Korea in the 15k individual at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre. Dunklee crossed the finish in 19th with a time of 44:33.5, picking up only two shooting penalties.

Meanwhile, Colorado’s Joanne Reid followed with a time of 44:41.3 with only one shooting penalty, finishing 22nd.

Clare Egan (Wellesley/New Hampshire) took four shooting penalties and came in 62nd with a time of 48:00.8. The final U.S. collegiate competitor in the race, former Dartmouth rower Emily Dreissigacker, earned 67th place after crossing the finish at 48:16.4.

In the men’s 20k individual, Vermont’s Lowell Bailey placed 51st with a time of 52:56.8. Four shooting penalties pushed Bailey nearly five seconds behind the leader.  

Cross-country skiing

Alaska Pacific’s Sadie Bjornsen and Kikkan Randall each posted top-20 finishes in the 10k freestyle race at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre. Bjornsen edged out teammate Randall with a 15th-place finish in a race time of 26:42.6, while Randall earned 16th place with a time of 26:50.4.

For two-time Olympian Bjornsen, this finish marks an improvement from Sochi where she placed 18th. Meanwhile, five-time Olympian Randall competed in the event for the first time at an Olympic Winter Games.

Women’s cross-country skiing competition continues with the 4x5k relay on Saturday.