You may remember from one of my posts last year that TAI has a special relationship with Bogus Basin Nordic Ski Team. There is exciting news from the Bogus Basin crew - Boise native and 7-year Team member Sara Studebaker has been named to the U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team!!! I have included the official press release below where you can read more about Sara (and even follow her activities via her blog!). Keep an eye out (and cheer loud!!) for this local athlete as you watch the Vancouver games next month!
For Immediate Release
8:00 am MST Monday, January 11, 2010
Contact: Kay Hummel, Bogus Basin Nordic Team
BOISEAN SARA STUDEBAKER NAMED TO OLYMPIC BIATHLON TEAM
Altenberg, Germany. Boise, Idaho native Sara Studebaker will go to the Vancouver Winter Games as a United States Olympic biathlete in February. Studebaker will be one of four American women competing in several biathlon events. The United States Biathlon Association nominated Studebaker late Sunday after the conclusion of biathlon trials held in Altenberg.
Studebaker grew up in Boise and was a seven-year member of the Bogus Basin Nordic Team. She is a 2003
graduate of Boise High School and skied on the cross-country team for Dartmouth College, where she graduated in 2007. Since then she has lived and trained biathlon in Lake Placid, New York, at the Olympic training center and site of the 1980 winter games.
http://biathlon.teamusa.org/news/2010/01/10/usba-to-forward-names-to-us-olympic-committee-for-2010-team/30463
Background / US National Biathlon Team Member, SARA STUDEBAKER
Sara Studebaker skied on the Bogus Basin Nordic Team for seven years and competed in five junior national U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships. During junior high, she also learned the sport of biathalon thanks to Eric Reynolds, Boisean and former BBNT coach, U.S. Army biathlete and international biathlon competitor.
Studebaker and classmate Lindsay Burt went to Russia representing the United States at the world summer biathlon championships (running and shooting) as Boise High tenth graders. Studebaker and Burt competed at several junior national biathlon championships while also competing at the national level in nordic skiing for BBNT and the Intermountain Division.
Studebaker captained the NCAA championship Dartmouth College nordic ski team that won the national ski title in March 2007. Since then, Sara and boyfriend, Zach Hall, also a 2007 Dartmouth graduate and USBA athlete, have resided at Lake Placid, NY, continuing their ski training as biathletes. Both athletes visit Idaho frequently and this autumn helped lead training practices with the Bogus Basin Nordic Team and attended workouts with Idaho Nordic ski club.
In 2008, Sara was the overall North American Cup Champion (race points) and was the top U.S. biathlete at the 2008 Canadian nationals. In 2008 and 2009, she competed in IBU Europa Cup races in Europe. In 2009 she made her World Cup debut and earned World Cup points in Vancouver, BC, Canada, site of the upcoming Winter Games. Sara spent this November and December in Europe at the first three biathlon World Cup events in Sweden, Austria and Slovenia. In the first two race series, she was the top American biathlete out of three women sent to Europe. She departed Boise Dec. 27 for Germany to compete in the final U.S. trials determining the Olympic roster and to ski and shoot in additional World Cup competitions.
Studebaker receives partial support from the USBA, United States Biathlon Association, but also seeks financial assistance and equipment support from many sources. More information on Sara Studebaker is available on her blog. http://sarastudebaker.blogspot.com/