LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Today marked the end of two-time Junior World Championship medalist Matt Greiner’s career as a junior (to age 21) luge athlete. He celebrated the occasion by winning the Norton Junior National Championship title. In men’s doubles, the race was won by Junior World Champions Marcus Mueller/Ansel Haugsjaa. In the women’s competition, Sophia Gordon won her second title.

The week leading up to today’s race saw wild temperature swings, creating havoc for the track crew at the Olympic Sports Complex. Athletes had to deal with an abbreviated training schedule, altering the number of entries in the men’s field.

In a sport where races are often won and lost by thousandths of a second, Greiner’s margin today was a dominant performance. The Park City, Utah native won with a two-run combined time of one minute, 44.156 seconds. Aidan Mueller (West Islip, N.Y.) was second with 1:46.205, followed by Logan Barnes (Milwaukee, Wisc.) in third with a time of 1:46.290.

“(This was) my last Junior race. I think it went pretty well,” said Greiner, who missed all of training due to illness. “I was fighting a bit of a cold, but I made it up the start height today and put down two pretty clean runs, so I’m happy.”

This was Greiner's second Norton Junior National title. His last was in 2020.

The open doubles category saw Mueller (Brookfield, Wisc.) and Haugsjaa (Framingham, Mass.) take their third Norton title in 1:28.854 with a Greiner-like lead over the rest of the field. They remain eligible to compete on the Junior circuit but will likely spend some time with the National Team next season.

“The track was super slow (due to weather) and we were racing from a lower start height, so definitely a super relaxing race for us,” said Haugsjaa.

“We had good starts, put down two good runs, so overall it good to finish the season with,” added Mueller.

Barnes and Gavin Davis (Berwick, Pa) were second in 1:31.592, followed by 2024 Youth Olympians Sadie Martin (Vermontville, N.Y.) and Haidyn Bunker (West Farmington, Ohio) were third in 1:32.398.

The women’s race was the closest of the day, with Sophia Gordon (Sussex, Wisc.) taking gold in 1:32.570. Emma Erickson (Park City, Utah) was second, just .077 away from Gordon with a time of 1:32.647. Macey Schomaker (Park City, Utah) was third in 1:33.893.

“It was a good race. I put down two solid runs”, said Gordon. “I would say I raced to the best of my potential this week.”

With extreme temperature fluctuations causing canceled training sessions this week, a special men’s open class was created at a lower starting point. The coaching staff wanted to allow those who did not have enough time to safely train from the Junior men’s start with an opportunity to compete. That race was won by Gabriel Desauteles (Georgia, Vt.) in 1:34.585. Andrew Robertson (South Jordan, Utah) was second in 1:36.267, followed by third place finisher Riley Dombard (Downers Grove, Ill.) in 1:38.576.

The Norton Youth National Championships will take place April 6 at the Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid.

2024 Norton Junior National Championship titles for Greiner, Gordon and Mueller/Haugsjaa

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2024 Norton Junior National Championship Results