And they’re off

And they’re off: "When Caitlin Compton's named flashed atop the leaderboard Tuesday, the announcer incredulously followed, 'Is that right?'

It was. The former Northern Michigan skier finished nearly 25 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor and won the five-kilometer freestyle race at the U.S. Cross Country Championships.

The question whether Compton could win the race is because Nordic skiing isn't her main sport. Living and training in Minneapolis, Compton hopes to compete in the 2010 Olympics in the biathlon, combining Nordic skiing with rifle.

'The biggest joke is that I've been training all summer and fall with this eight-pound rifle on my back,' said the 27-year-old Compton, who graduated from NMU in 2004. 'Once you take that off, it's a whole lot easier. There's a lot more stuff to think about (in the biathlon). Ski racing seems pretty straight forward,'

Though she had success as a straight cross country skier as a Wildcat — helping lead NMU to an eighth-place finish in the NCAA Championships in 2002 — upon graduating her boyfriend convinced her to give biathlon a go. Helping the push was a developing women's biathlon Olympic program and knowing most female Olympians are younger.

'It's wide open right now for the women,' Compton said about the U.S. biathlon team. 'There's a lot of opportunity. If I were going to try to compete at the 2010 Ol"