CAMP RIPLEY, Minn. - For years, the big names in National Guard biathlon were Vermont and Minnesota. After sweeping all four races at this year's championships, North Dakota is emerging as an unexpected powerhouse.
North Dakota's top skier Sgt. Blake Hillerson won the sprint and the individual races here at the Chief of the National Guard Bureau Biathlon Championships on March 1 and 3. North Dakota also cruised to victory in the patrol and relay races March 5 and 6.
What makes their rise impressive is that North Dakota doesn't have its own biathlon range or course to practice on. The team's father-son duo of Sgt. 1st Class Kent Pulst and Spc. Brandon Pulst have built their own mini-biathlon course in the back yard of their country home.
"We've capitalized on the limited biathlon talent and resources that we have in our state," said North Dakota's coach Spc. Jordan Becker. We've produced some quality biathletes on our own, and brought in some talent from other states, he said, referring to the off-season pick-up of Air Force Capt. Eric Nordgren, formerly of Minnesota.
Individual races
In the 10-kilometer "sprint" race, Hillerson skied to a one-minute victory while fighting fatigue and mild sickness from a recent trip to Germany and a 52-kilometer Nordic "marathon" in Wisconsin two days earlier.
He said that "a lot of things fell into place" during the week. One was starting just behind his main rival, Utah Army Master Sgt. Doug Bernard.
Hillerson said that it takes the pressure off when you start behind your main competitor, catch them and finish alongside them.
In the 20-kilometer "individual race", which included four target shooting bouts, he simply executed a race strategy of starting conservatively.
Hillerson told himself to "forget about everybody else and just go out, ski a modest pace in the first lap and shoot clean."
He did just that, knocking down all five targets in the prone position and never looking back. "The race doesn't start until the first shooting stop," he said.
Hillerson's next big event is the 1st CISM (International Military Sports Council) Winter World Games, the most competitive event on the international calendar for National Guard biathlon, scheduled for March 20-25 in Aosta Valley, Italy.
The last one to sweep the sprint and individual races was Sgt. Jesse Downs of Vermont in 2009. Downs wasn't present this week because he was out-processing from the Army's World Class Athlete Program in Ft. Carson, Colo. He plans to re-join the ranks of the Vermont Guard and travel with Hillerson and other team members for the CISM competition. Another top Green Mountain State skier, 1st Lt. Samuel Morse, was unavailable to compete as he is deployed with the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
Arizona Army Capt. Karl Granroth finished second to Hillerson in the 20-kilometer by just 2 minutes, 11 seconds and credited his placing to improved shooting, courtesy of All-Guard Team coach Staff Sgt. Sarah Lehto.
Coming in, she measured his time on the range at 96 seconds, too long to win.
"I sped up my shooting today and it seemed to work," he said.
Journeyman-biathlete Granroth, 37, who's been skiing since he was 14, has the unusual distinction to have been on five state biathlon teams. He, like Hillerson, played chase in the 20-kilometer.
"I tried to keep in contact with skiers just ahead of me," he said, referring to Utah's Bernard and South Dakota's Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Busse, who finished third and fourth respectively.
But Granroth said that his chances of winning were slim: "He's (Hillerson) is going to win if he doesn't screw up," he said.
Vermont's Sgt. 1st Class Karin Kasupski won the women's 15-kilometer individual in 1 hour, 17 minutes, missing nine out of 20 shots. Alaska Air Guard member Rebecca King won the women's 7.5-kilometer race in 35 minutes, 42 seconds, with seven penalties.
Several novices took part in the championships. Beginner Spc. Daniel Zabriskie of Wyoming skied his first-ever 20-kilometer, fell a couple of times, finished near the back, but said it was better than a day in the office, especially with the day's conditions: windless, warm and blue skies.
Second Lt. Michelle McVennes of Minnesota said her skis weren't running well, but had a much better time today than two years ago when she fell hard on the same course causing blood to run down her face.
Team races
The patrol race had teams of four skiing together for five loops totalling 15 kilometers, shooting once after the third loop. Once on the range, the patrol leader directed the other three to knock down one target using up to three shots. Eight states had full teams and five others raced as composites.
As predicted, the North Dakota team cruised to victory in about 56 minutes, anchored by Hillerson.
A Utah team finished strong despite one of their top skiers, Bernard, having to leave for a mission to Morocco to teach biathlon to mountain troops there. Morocco is Utah's State Partnership Program-partner country.
Civilian Barbara Blanke, a Family Support member back in Utah, filled in for Bernard. Her husband and team captain, Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Blanke, described their strategy in the patrol.
"The key is to work together and get the most out of your weakest skier," he said. "When you put your weakest skier in the 3rd position, then you can have him mimic the strokes of the two faster skiers ahead of him," he said. "Staying together is critical."
It was Blanke and Bernard and another Utah biathlete that rescued victims of a helicopter crash in Chile in August while competing in an international military biathlon there.
Right after the championships, Blanke, of Utah's 19th Special Forces Group, is leaving for Djibouti in Africa for an extended mission there.
In the patrol, a Montana skier crashed hard early on, breaking his rifle and suffering a head wound. It's one of the hazards of the sport. The team continued and was allowed to replace the rifle, finishing fourth.
"It looked like he got hit by a semi," said his teammate Spc. Joel Shanight.
Shanight is an experienced Nordic skier but a beginner biathlete. According to a team member, he has a "sweet engine," meaning he has excellent aerobic capacity, but still needs to learn how to shoot.
Shanight, a right-handed shooter, found out this week that he was left-eye dominant. Most right-handed shooters are right-eye dominant. It's a challenge he'll have to overcome if he wants to progress in the sport that demands excellent vision.
States with less than four biathletes were allowed to join up with others and form "composite" teams.
One of those, self-named "Team America," included members from New Jersey, Wisconsin, Montana and Washington. They skied and shot well, suffering only one, one-minute penalty.
"I didn't want to sit it out," said Wisconsin Guardmember John Brown, 41, who enjoyed the camaraderie of skiing with someone from another state and the "skill building effort" that resulted.
"You can be the slowest guy on the team, but no one cares," said second-year racer Marc Winans from New Jersey. "Everybody is cheering everybody along."
In the 3x7.5-kilometer relay race, competitors skied three loops, shooting once standing and once prone.
Once again, no one could catch Team North Dakota, who won in 1 hour, 16 minutes, 43 seconds.
"Eric and Kent have made huge strides this year—that kind of propelled our team," said Hillerson.
The relay race was watched by the prideful eye of Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, the adjutant general of North Dakota. "I think they did a wonderful job," he said. "It was fun to watch them ski and shoot so well, and blow away the competition."
Army Maj. Gen. David Burford, deputy commander for Mobilization and Reserve Affairs for U.S. Special Operations Command and a special assistant to CNGB, also made a special visit to view the action.
Burford spoke at the awards ceremony and help hand out medals and trophies. The Alabama native said that the only skiing he does is on water but appreciated the athleticism he witnessed.
New leadership
Recruiting more athletes into Guard biathlon and especially world-class ones is a top priority of Army Maj. Andy Parsons, the program's new director since October.
A successful biathlete himself for 12 years, one of Parsons' strategies has been to simply send the Guard's best biathletes to high-profile Nordic races and events, like the West Yellowstone, Mont., Ski Festival, the U.S. Cross Country Championships, and the biggest Nordic race in America, the Birkebeiner.
These biathlete-recruiters race with a "National Guard" emblazoned uniform and then talk up the Guard and its biathlon program after the race with fellow competitors.
The soft-spoken Parsons, who formerly taught Army ROTC at Boston University, said another one of his efforts is to encouraging involvement from the states that don't have teams.
Parsons and his staff of four, with offices located in Jericho, Vt., also fund developmental and elite athletes to compete in international events, to include Winter CISM. The "All Guard" Biathlon team competed in Germany and Italy in February in preparation for CISM, the most competitive military ski event short of the Winter Olympic Games.
In addition, Parsons plans to modernize the Guard's biathlon ranges, which he feels are lagging behind the rest of the world. He plans on starting with the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho, Vt., by installing electronic targets—right now, range crews have to pull a cord to reset targets and score hits with pen and pad. Other upgrades will include an electronic scoreboard.
And the biathlon program still doesn't have an official Web site, which Parsons plans to add soon.
Along with four races in seven days, biathletes talked among each other about ways to improve the program. In an effort to "mirror ourselves to the IBU (International Biathlon Union)" said Granroth, who spoke at the biathlon congress, the Guard is strongly considering changing the format for next years' championships to make it more in line with international biathlon competitions.
It may remove the individual race and replace it with a 12.5-kilometer pursuit and 15-kilometer mass start races. Those races drew the most excitement at the recent Olympics in Vancouver.
Other changes include adding the Olympic venue at Soldier's Hollow in Utah to the West Regional rotation and adding summer biathlons where competitors run and shoot, or rollerski and shoot.
Next year's championships are planned for Ethan Allen Firing Range in Vermont in March.
For more information about National Guard Biathlon, please contact Maj. Andy Parsons at (802)899-7120 or atandrew.f.parsons@us.army.mil.