Rookard, Kuck win U.S. long track titles

Rookard, a 2010 Olympian from West Allis, posted a time of 7 minutes, 8.58 seconds to win the 5,000-meter race. She also won the 3,000 on Tuesday on the first of five days of racing in the U. S. championships.

Kuck, who is from Champaign, Ill., captured the 10,000 with a Pettit National Ice Center track record time of 13:17.28. He shaved almost 5 seconds off the record of 13:22.93 set by Olympic medalist Chad Hedrick on Oct. 24, 2005. Kuck also won the 5,000 on Tuesday.

The titles were determined on the skater’s combined times for five races. Rookard’s winning total was 165.138 and Kuck’s 150.845.

Maria Lamb, of River Falls, Wis., finished second in the 5,000 (7:16.57) and women’s allround standings with 168.658. Nancy Swider-Peltz Jr., of Wheaton, Ill., finished third in both the 5,000 (7:31.95) and the standings (171.034).

Patrick Meek, of Murray, Utah, was second in the race (13:53.88) and third in the standings (158.531), while Joshua Wood, of Sacramento, Calif., was third (14:07.12) and second in the allround standings (156.110).

Rookard’s first national title made a special day out of a sad one.

"This is the anniversary of my mom’s passing,” the emotional Rookard said.

Her mom, Claire, died in 2009 not long before qualifying trials for the 2010 U. S. Olympic team.

Despite her mom’s death, Rookard skated well enough to make the team. And she overcame the emotion of the anniversary of her mom’s death to skate one of her strongest races of the season.

"It was a really hard night,” Rookard said. "I was really sad last night and kind of overwhelmed at the thought of having to finish another hard race.”

But then I woke up in positive spirits. And I was actually thinking about it during my race. And in the final laps I was thinking ‘I’m going to finish hard and just do my best.”’

Rookard, who has struggled so far in the World Cup season, shaved nearly seven seconds off her personal best for that distance at the Pettit National Ice Center.

"It felt really good and I was really excited to win,” she said.

Rookard has had trouble adjusting to the team’s new training methods but feels she can skate better in the second half of the World Cup season.

Kuck was pleased to break a track record held by an Olympic medalist.

"I am happy with that. He was a great skater so to break his track record feels good,” he said.

Speedskating officials used results from the championships to pick skaters for its national teams for the rest of the World Cup season.

Four-time Olympic medalist Shani Davis and 2011 Sprint Champion Tucker Fredricks were the only skaters pre-qualified for the rest of the season. Other male skaters eligible for World Cup competition include Kuck; Michael Blumel, Brian Hansen, Joey Lindsey and Joshua Wood.

Skaters eligible for women’s events include Rookard; 2011 Sprint Champion Heather Richardson, Britany Bowe, Lauren Cholewinski, Mary Grace, Kelly Gunther, Maria Lamb, Nancy Swider-Peltz, Jr. and Sugar Todd.

Not all of the skaters are eligible for every World Cup competition and some may compete only in domestic World Cup events.