Sports briefs

Pikus-Pace earns spot on skeleton squad

PARK CITY — Noelle Pikus-Pace made the U.S. skeleton team with one day of qualifying still to go.

Pikus-Pace secured her spot on the World Cup squad by being the fastest woman for the third straight qualifying session after finishing Friday's two runs at Utah Olympic Park 1.49 seconds ahead.

The format allows sliders to throw out their worst day from four days of qualifying. Pikus-Pace hasn't had one yet, also winning twice last week at Lake Placid on the opening days of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton team trials.

A spot on the World Cup team puts Pikus-Pace in position to qualify for the Vancouver Games in February. She missed out on the 2006 Olympics after being hit by a bobsled.

"This year I just feel so excited to be here. I feel light and ready to compete," she said. "I feel like I did before the accident."

Pikus-Pace joins a team that already has Katie Uhlaender. The two-time World Cup skeleton champion was awarded a spot on Saturday by the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation despite just getting back on the track last week as she recovers from a shattered kneecap.

Uhlaender wasn't competing, but did slide on Friday and said she was about .22 off her personal best on the 2002 Olympic track.

"It's definitely coming along," she said. "I've got about a month to knock that down, but considering I just started running a week ago, I'm pretty happy with that."

Uhlaender's waiver leaves one spot up for grabs in the women's skeleton competition when the trials wrap up Saturday. Rebecca Sorensen is the front-runner after finishing third on Friday and second in both Lake Placid races. Courtney Yamada-Anderson was second Friday and trailed Sorensen entering the weekend.The men's skeleton standings were much tighter after Zach Lund finished first in Friday's qualifying on his home track, edging John Daly by 0.11 of a second. Matt Antoine, who led qualifying after the Lake Placid races, finished third. Daly had been second entering Friday and Lund third.

Although the top three finishers in the trials were supposed to make the national team, one spot has already been claimed by Eric Bernotas. The 2006 Olympian was leading after the first day of the trials and was excused for the rest of the competition because of a strained right quadricep.Lund is trying to make it to Vancouver after missing the 2006 Games because of a one-year suspension for a doping violation caused by a hair-restoration drug that didn't comply with World Anti-Doping Agency regulations. He entered the weekend in third.