No troubles at trials

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The bobbers and lugers get their tickets to Turin with World Cup points. The long-trackers can prequalify. Most of the figure skaters are named behind closed doors by committee after the national championships. The men's hockey team finds out by phone. Except for the curlers, who have rocks in their hands, the helmetheads are the last athletes to do it the old-fashioned way, qualifying through Olympic trials. One week, one shot.

Not that the results differ all that much from form. When the four-day US short-track speedskating trials concluded last night inside the Berry Events Center at Northern Michigan University, almost all of the people who were supposed to make the team did.

Olympic champion Apolo Anton Ohno, who won all but one race here, topped the men's table by a majestic margin (225-68.5) over Rusty Smith and will skate all three individual events (500, 1,000, and 1,500 meters) at the Games. They'll be joined by Alex Izykowski, J.P. Kepka, and Anthony Lobello, the one surprise on the roster.

Hyo Jung Kim, the 17-year-old speed racer who's America's face of the future, shrugged off a pulled Achilles' to outpoint Allison Baver, 191-152. And Natick native Caroline Hallisey, who was teetering on the edge for the final two days, made her third straight team by finishing fifth, 14 points ahead of Kristen Biondo.

''I'm kind of in shock," said the 25-year-old Hallisey, who'll skate the relay at the Games, as will either Kimberly Derrick or Maria Garcia. ''This was the hardest team I've ever had to make. Those girls are skating awesome."

Coming into last night Hallisey was clinging to fifth place by 1 point over Biondo. When Hallisey finished fourth in the 500 final after Biondo was disqualified in their heat, Hallisey had a 9-point edge going into the 1,000. When she made the final and Biondo didn't, Hallisey had Turin locked up.

''Experience definitely helped," said Hallisey, who made her first team at 17. ''I tried to pile up every little point I could. It always comes down to the last day. It always comes down to the last race."

The most notable names missing from the list were Amy Peterson, who was striving to make a record sixth team at 34, and Shani Davis, who was trying to become the first speedskater to make both the long- and short-track teams at the same Games.

Peterson, a three-time Olympic medalist, knew she was a long shot to make the squad ahead of some women half her age. ''When I decided to do this, it wasn't about only making the Olympic team," she said. ''I just solely wanted to skate again and that's what I did."

But Peterson managed to make only one final here and couldn't get out of either heat last night, ending up seventh overall. ''I wouldn't say I skated horrible; it just didn't happen," shrugged Peterson, who said she'll still skate out the season. ''I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

Nor was it for Davis, who'd skipped the World Cup season to focus on long-track and found himself scrambling all week. ''Too little, too late," he said, after pulling himself up from 10th place to sixth, one spot shy of making the roster. Had Davis won either race last night, he would have made the squad. But he was third in the 500 and went out in the 1,000 semis after stepping on a rubber lane marker and falling.

''I tried to go out with a fight," said Davis, who's already on the long-track team and should win a couple of medals in Turin. ''I can't just lie on my back. These dreams come only so often. It's unfortunate that what happened had to happen, but it happened and I accept it. That's why I love short-track. Because you just never know."