Randall, Newell headline American cross-country team

Kikkan Randall, Andy Newell and Kris Freeman headline a group of eight athletes on the 2010 U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team that will compete at the Winter Games next month.

Randall, of Anchorage, Alaska, is America's best cross-country skier. Her silver medal at the world championships last year made her the first American woman to reach the podium at the world championships or Olympics.

Like Randall, Freeman, of Andover, N.H., is a third-time Olympian. Newell, of Shaftsbury, Vt., is making his second trip to the Olympics. They all made the team based on World Cup results.

Both Randall and Newell have a pair of World Cup podium finishes in their careers.

"This is a team that goes to Vancouver well-prepared, with proven success in major international competitions," U.S. Nordic director John Farra said.

Other past Olympians on the team are Torin Koos, of Leavenworth, Wash., who has a World Cup podium finish and is competing in his third Games, and James Southam, of Anchorage, who was on the 2006 team in Torino.

First-time Olympians are Morgan Arritola (Ketchum, Idaho), Caitlin Compton (Minneapolis) and Liz Stephen (Montpelier, Vt.).

The eight-member team is smaller than in the past, the result of a new Olympic quota system. The nominations by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association are subject to the approval of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Two-time Olympian Pete Vordenberg will head the coaching staff.