Chad Hedrick makes surprise appearance in 1,000, earns another spot at US speedskating trials

Hedrick jumps into 1,000 _ and earns another spot

MILWAUKEE — Even without Shani Davis to push him, Chad Hedrick claimed another event at the U.S. speedskating trials Sunday.

Hedrick made a surprise appearance in the second round of the 1,000 meters and wound up with a spot on the World Cup team after the fourth-fastest time overall, 1 minute, 10.38 seconds.

Davis, the world-record holder in the 1,000, had already put up a time Thursday that he knew would be fastest (1:08.85) and didn’t bother taking part in the second-chance race. The best time from the two rounds was used to determine the five members of the World Cup team.

Hedrick didn’t plan to race the 1,000 but was talked into it the night before by his coach, Derek Parra. That was shortly after a thrilling victory over Davis in the 1,500 by two-hundreds of a second. The two rivals have been pushing each other hard at these trials, with Davis beating Hedrick by the same two-hundreds margin in the 5,000.

“If yesterday was like the Super Bowl, this was like the Pro Bowl,” quipped Hedrick, who won three medals at the 2006 Turin Olympics. “There was something missing with him not out there.”

They had one more chance to go head to head in the final event of the meet, the 10,000 later Sunday. Neither plans to compete in speedskating’s longest event at the Olympics, but they had to enter to secure their spots in the 5,000.

Joining Davis and Hedrick on the World Cup team are Nick Pearson (1:09.65), Trevor Mariscano (1:09.74) and Jonathan Kuck (1:10.82).

The Olympic squad will be determined by the results of five World Cup events.

In the women’s 1,000, the top three finishers Thursday stood on their times: Jennifer Rodriguez (1:17.91), Heather Richardson (1:17.93) and Elli Ochowicz (1:18.05).

Rebekah Bradford skated again and didn’t beat her previous time, staying fourth at 1:19.36. Jilleanne Rookard went a tenth faster (1:19.60) and locked up the fifth spot.

Jilleanne Rookard completed a sweep of the long-distance races, adding the 5,000 title to her victory in the 3,000. She’ll lead the World Cup team for the two most grueling women’s events, joined by Maria Lamb, Catherine Raney and Nancy Swider-Peltz Jr.

Rookard, who’s been skating on ice for less than three years after switching from inline, is perhaps the biggest surprise of these trials. The 26-year-old Michigan native also earned spots in the 1,000 and 1,500.

Raney is trying to make her fourth Olympic team, while Lamb is attempting to qualify for the second time. Swider-Peltz is coached by her namesake mother, who competed in four Olympics.