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ANCHORAGE — Foremost on Kris Freeman’s mind at the start of Monday’s freestyle race was his diabetes — not the competition at Kincaid Park.

“I’m more concerned with balancing my blood sugar, which is a little bit of a problem on a day like this,” said Freeman, a 28-year-old New Hampshire native and the country’s top distance Nordic skier.

Freeman, of the U.S. Ski Team, started conservatively and trailed Garrott Kuzzy of team CXC by a few seconds early in the 10-kilometer race that finally kicked off the ConocoPhillips U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships.  “So I hit the start of the race maybe a little flat, not quite jazzed to go, and at about 3K I started feeling better,” said Freeman, who is among the few professional athletes with Type 1 diabetes, the rarer form of the disease.  Once Freeman put the hammer down, the competition had no chance to prevent his 11th national championship. Freeman completed the interval-start race in 24 minutes, 17 seconds, a full 50 seconds ahead of teammate Leif Zimmerman. Matthew Liebsch of CXC rounded out the men’s podium in 25:20.

Olympian James Southam of Alaska Pacific University was the top Alaskan in fifth while teammate Brent Knight popped his best freestyle race to place sixth.

For Freeman, the result was a positive after a frustrating 2007-08 season that included no national championships.

“I wouldn’t call it redemption, but I’m happy,” said Freeman, who won $1,200. “I’m just rounding into shape now, and that’s exactly what I want to do.”

Freeman has two top 20 results on the World Cup so far this season and hopes to improve for upcoming World Cups and the World Championships next month in the Czech Republic.

“So (the top 20s) was a solid start, but I’m really looking for top 10s and that elusive podium,” Freeman said.

Many of Monday’s racers had to endure the sprint being canceled on Saturday and Sunday because of cold weather. Freeman was not among them, as he did not initially sign up for the sprint. However, he now plans to compete in at least two of the three remaining races.

Compton conquers

Caitlin Compton defended her freestyle title, but not without suffering.

“This was by far the most difficult race I’ve raced in a long time,” said Compton, a CXC skier from Minneapolis. “This course just didn’t have any real rest. It was fairly hilly and I think the slow snow combined with just constant transitions (made it hard).”

Compton benefited by starting 15 seconds after one of the favorites, Liz Stephen of the USST. Compton caught her in the first half of the race, but struggled to stay in range near the end.

“(At 4K) Liz put on a little bit of a surge. I felt my legs kind of turn to Jell-O ... and it was everything I had just to get into the finish line,” Compton said. “I don’t collapse too often at the finish line and I definitely did today.”

The effort paid off, as Compton’s 5K time of 14:48 was 3.5 seconds faster than runner-up Kikkan Randall of Anchorage and 8.3 seconds ahead of Stephen.

Kate Arduser, formerly of Fairbanks, placed sixth while Alaska Pacific University teammate Becca Rorabaugh was a solid 11th.

A year ago, Compton was a member of the U.S. Biathlon team, but she’s since ditched the rifle.

“My shooting ability, I’ve definitely improved it quite a bit, but I felt strongly that my best chance would be in cross country to qualify for the 2010 Olympic games,” Compton said. “My plan is to go all out now for cross country skiing only.”

Randall’s all-out effort wasn’t quite enough, but it was a good result after a tough early season that included a mediocre 40th place at a World Cup sprint last month in Germany.

“I have a lot of incentive to get back on track,” Randall said.

Skiing away a lot of nervous energy was a welcome contrast to several days of waiting around.

“It was good to finally get out there and just test the body,” she said.

The freestyle races were each shortened by 5 kilometers in order to finish quicker in the event of more cold weather. The temperature at the start of Monday’s women’s race was 1 degree, well above the minimum minus 4 degrees required for national championships events.

Racers still bundled up, wore headgear to cover their ears and a few even raced with breathing masks designed to help warm the air before it entered their lungs. Nevertheless, several wound up with white noses which coaches implored them to cover during the speedy downhills.

Compton was among those less fazed by the cold because Monday was such an improvement from previous days.

“My whole sense of cold weather has shifted maybe 15 degrees colder now,” she said with a laugh. “It felt pretty warm out there.”

Alaskan results

Twenty Alaskans finished among the top 30, a stellar result influenced by the home-state advantage.

“We definitely have the advantage getting to sleep in our own bed. It gets really stressful when you’re on the road. ... Everything’s more comfortable (being at home) and so you stay a lot more relaxed,” Knight said.

Tyson Flaharty of Fairbanks said he felt tired but still managed 19th, his best distance result at nationals.

“I was actually pretty surprised I’m in the top 20, for how I feel,” Flaharty said.  Flaharty’s teammates from FAST, juniors David Norris and Reese Hanneman, had tougher days, taking 53rd and 102nd, respectively, among 197 finishers.

“Those guys have so much more to give,” Flaharty said.

Seven Alaska Nanooks made the top 100. They were Anna Coulter (26th), Julia Pierson (30th), Elisabeth Habermann (53rd), Theresia Schnurr (57th), Oyvind Watterdal (58th), Einar Often (79th) and John Parry (83rd).

Classic next

On tap at noon, today are classic technique races of 15 kilometers for men and 10K for women.

That’s another schedule change, as originally the classic was slated for Wednesday. Instead, the sprint fills Wednesday’s ledger and the team sprint concludes the competition on Thursday.

“We would have preferred in some ways to have the sprint (on Tuesday) to give people a rest from the distance experience. That would have been ideal,” U.S. Ski Association Nordic Director John Farra said.

That idea was scratched, however, because Wednesday is projected to be the warmest upcoming day, and a longer time window is needed to contest the sprint qualification round followed by many six-skier heats.