King Makes Olympics

Wed., Dec. 31, 1997

Compiled From Wire Services

Three years ago, Suzanne King thought of quitting cross-country ski racing. Now she’s headed for the Winter Olympics.

King, who knew she wouldn’t make the U.S. Olympic team as a discretionary pick because at 33 she’s too old, edged 27-year-old Kerrin Petty of Townshend, Vt., by 14.8 seconds to win the women’s 15-kilometer freestyle race at Mount Van Hoevenberg and grab a spot on the U.S. team that will compete at Nagano, Japan, in February.

The same story line played out in the men’s competition. Marc Gilbertson, 28, of Morrisville, Vt., easily won the 30-kilometer freestyle event. Gilbertson, who put his teaching career on hold this year to give the Olympic trials a shot, beat second-place finisher Pete Vordenberg of Boulder, Colo., by more than two minutes. Justin Wadsworth of Bend, Ore., was third, nearly a half-minute further back.

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King Makes Olympics

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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