=== The latest news from the USOC - November 27 ===
 
                (Courtesy of United States Olympic Committee)
 
 
 HISTORIC FINISH
 
 (Sports Network) - For the first-time ever, the U.S. women's cross country ski
 team finished on the podium in a world cup relay event. After Holly Brooks
 (Anchorage, Alaska), Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Liz Stephen (East
 Montpelier, Vt.) put the team into medal position in the 4x5-kilometer event in
 Gaellivare, Sweden, Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) outsprinted Norway II to
 claim bronze for the team. A day earlier, Randall scored the bronze medal in
 the 10K freestyle race.
 
 WINNING WAYS
 
 Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah) piloted his third consecutive victory in a
 two-man bobsled race on Nov. 23 in Whistler, British Columbia. Holcomb, paired
 with push start athlete Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.), posted a combined time
 of 1:45.26 to win by 0.04 seconds.
 
 BIATHLON
 
 Team USA opened its season at the IBU Cup on Nov. 24 in Idre, Sweden. Annelies
 Cook (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) was the top U.S. finisher in the 7.5-kilometer race,
 placing 25th in a time of 24:10.6. Leif Nordgren (Marine, Minn.) crossed the
 finish line in 44th place as the top male U.S. finisher in the 10K in 27:15.6.
 Team USA finished in 17th in the 2x6K+2x7.5K mixed relay on Nov. 25.
 
 BOBSLED/SKELETON
 
 Steven Holcomb (Park City, Utah), Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.), Justin Olsen
 (San Antonio, Texas) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) finished 0.06 seconds
 off the medal stand in the four-man bobsled races in Whistler, British
 Columbia, on Nov. 24. Meanwhile, Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wis.) slid to
 the top U.S. male finish in the skeleton races, placing 15th with a combined
 score of 1:49.19. Noelle Pikus-Pace (Orem, Utah) raced in a world cup event for
 the first time since returning from retirement, finishing sixth at the skeleton
 event in Whistler, British Columbia, on Nov. 23. Teammate Katie Uhlaender
 finished seventh. Meanwhile, the U.S. women's bobsled teams finished ninth,
 10th and 11th.
 
 Competing at the European Cup in Koenigssee, Germany, held on Nov. 24 and 25,
 U.S. women scored four top-10 finishes in skeleton. Rachelle Rasmussen
 (Belmont, Calif.) led the way with ninth- and 10th-place finishes.
 
 CYCLING
 
 Katie Compton (Colorado Spring, Colo.) took home her second victory of the
 season at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Koksijde, Belgium, on Nov. 24.
 Compton came across the finish line in 44:10, nearly 90 seconds ahead of her
 closest competitor.
 
 FENCING
 
 Team USA won gold at the Grenoble Cadet European Cup on Nov. 25 in Grenoble,
 France. The event was part of the European Cup, held Nov. 24-25 in various
 sites.
 
 Anton Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) won silver in the European Epee Cup, in
 Chalons, France, on Nov. 25.
 
 FIELD HOCKEY
 
 Thirty national champions were crowned at the 2012 National Hockey Festival,
 which ran from Nov. 22-25, in Wellington, Fla.
 
 FIGURE SKATING
 
 Meryl Davis (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Charlie White (Bloomfield Hills,
 Mich.) captured their 11th consecutive Grand Prix Series gold medal, dating
 back to 2009, with their dominant, 178.48-point performance in the ice dancing
 competition at the 2012 NHK Trophy on Nov. 24 in Miyagi, Japan. Also in ice
 dancing, the team of Maia Shibutani (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Alex Shibutani (Ann
 Arbor, Mich.) claimed its first medal of the season, a bronze. In the men's and
 women's singles competitions, Ross Miner (Boston, Mass.) and Mirai Nagasu
 (Arcadia, Calif.) each earned bronze medals.
 
 JUDO
 
 The U.S. judo team brought home 20 medals, including four golds, from the
 Infantile Pan American Championships held Nov. 24-25 in Mexico City.
 
 KARATE
 
 Sakura Kokumai (Honolulu, Hawaii; kata) and Brian Ramrup (Queens, N.Y.; -67
 kg.) both claimed bronze medals at the 21st World Seniors Championships, held
 Nov. 21-25 in Paris.
 
 LUGE
 
 The U.S. relay team finished seventh at the luge world cup event in Igls,
 Austria, on Nov. 25. In the men's singles competition, Chris Mazdzer (Saranac
 Lake, N.Y.) finished 16th with a total time of 1:41.12, while teammate Taylor
 Morris (South Jordan, Utah) finished 25th. In the women's competition on Nov.
 24, Julia Clukey (Augusta, Maine) was the top U.S. finisher in sixth place,
 while teammate Erin Hamlin (Remsen, N.Y.) rallied from 16th place after the
 first run to finish 11th.
 
 RUGBY
 
 The 2012 U.S. Men's National Team beat Romania, 34-3, on Nov. 24 in Bucharest,
 Romania. Chris Wyles (Stamford, Conn.) collected 19 points as the team closed
 out its fall tour.
 
 SKI/SNOWBOARD
 
 Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.) skied to two top-10 finishes at the Nature
 Valley Aspen Winternational, held Nov. 24-25, in Aspen, Colo. Shiffrin finished
 a career-best ninth in the giant slalom, before finishing seventh in the
 slalom.
 
 In Lake Louise, Alberta, Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, Calif.) reached the
 podium for the first time since 2009, coming across just 0.64 behind the
 winner, to earn bronze in the downhill at the Audi FIS World Cup event on Nov.
 24. Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) was fourth, just 0.01 off the podium, in the
 super-G on Nov. 25.
 
 The men's Nordic team - competing in the FIS World Cup event in Lillehammer,
 Norway, on Nov. 24 - was led by Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), who
 finished 24th. Also in Lillehammer, Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, Utah) soared
 to second place in the women's K100 ski jump. On Nov. 25, Bryan Fletcher
 (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) raced to a 22nd-place finish in the penalty-race
 format.
 
 SPEEDSKATING
 
 On the final day of competition (Nov. 25) at the Essent ISU World Cup in
 Kolomna, Russia, Brian Hansen (Glenview, Ill.) skated 1:45.91 in the men's
 1,500-meter race to place third. In the women's 3,000, Jilleanne Rookard
 (Woodhaven, Mich.) finished with a time of 4:08.59, putting her in fourth
 place.
 
 WATER SKIING
 
 U.S. athletes Freddy Krueger (Winter Garden, Fla.), Regina Jaquess (Santa Rosa
 Beach, Fla.) and Raimi Merritt (Orlando, Fla.) won gold medals at the IWWF
 Water Ski & Wakeboard World Cup in Palembang, Indonesia, on Nov. 25. Krueger
 claimed the men's jumping title with a distance of 209 feet, while Jaquess won
 the women's slalom and Merritt won the women's wakeboarding.
 
 WRESTLING
 
 Adeline Gray (Colorado Spring, Colo.; -72 kg.) won a gold medal at the Henri
 Deglane Challenge on Nov. 23 in Nice, France. Gray won all three of her
 matches, while competing up from her normal weight class of -67 kg.
 
 Robbie Smith (Colorado Springs, Colo.; -120 kg.) claimed gold at the Haavisto
 Cup on Nov. 24 in Ilmajoki, Finland. Meanwhile, Thrasher Porcher (Chuluota,
 Fla.; -66 kg.) and Andy Bisek (Colorado Springs, Colo.; -74 kg.) earned silver
 and bronze.
 
 
 
 
 11/27 09:37:09 ET