Johnny Spillane leads Billy Demong and Todd Lodwick in Colorado.
Cross Country A Team
U.S. cross country skiers aim for new heights while nordic combiners
look to replicate 2010 success By Hank McKee
Lungs, Legs and a Legacy
Morgan Arritola
Age: 24
Hometown: Fairfield, Idaho
Years on Team: 4
Club: Sun Valley SEF
Equipment: Fischer, Alpina,
Sponsors: Rudy Project, Swix
Résumé: Five World Cup scoring
results for her brief career and her
first Olympics under the belt with
some respectable finishes.
Outlook: Morgan didn’t get into
chasing skiing success until high
school, but moved rapidly up the ju-
nior ranks, and earned a spot on the
2009 World Championship team.
“I was disappointed with the 2010
season as a whole,” she says. “I
had high expectations and I worked
really hard
but just nev-
er had a day
fully come
together. It
was my first
full season
on the World
Cup and I
learned so many valuable lessons.
I can’t wait to do it again this year
because it’s really exciting being on
the World Cup circuit with the team.
For the upcoming season I hope to
become more comfortable on the
World Cup and more confident in
my ability to race well.”
Kris Freeman
Age: 30
Hometown: Andover, N.H.
Years on Team: 8
Club: Andover Outing Club
Equipment: Fischer, Alpina, Swix
Sponsors: Eli Lilly, Lifescan
Résumé: The first American to
make the “Red Group” of top- 30
World Cup athletes, Freeman made
his third Olympic team last season
and has twice [2003 & 2009] placed
fourth at World Champs in the 15K
some issues with my diabetes midway through and it really derailed
my season. I’ve spent the spring addressing those with my doctor and
research team and I feel like we’ll
be able to correct those problems
so that next year I should be able to
have a strong season start to finish.
I’m really going to be focusing in on
the Tour de Ski this year. I’ve never
done it before and I’m really looking forward to those back-to-back
races.”
