MIDWAY, Utah -- Unheralded Lanny Barnes overcame nervousness better than most of the competitors and won the women's 15K biathlon event Saturday at the U.S. Olympic trials.

The 19-year-old Barnes missed only two shots of 20 to win the longest of the four trial races with a time of 54 minutes, 30.8 seconds on the opening day of competition for berths on the national team for the Salt Lake Olympics.

The best previous finish for Barnes, a member of the Junior national team, was seventh at the 2000 European Championships in France in the 10K pursuit.

"My first misses were a little nerves, but I just focused on shooting," said Barnes, who grew up shooting in Durango, Colo. "You really can't think about it too much."

Missed shots equal a one-minute penalty.

Poor shooting haunted the remainder of the field, including 1998 Olympian Kara Salmela, who missed six shots, and fourth-place finisher Andrea Nahrgang, who missed five.

"Everyone was kind of nervous for the first race," Nahrgang said. "We were a little jittery in the shooting."

Lawton Redman skied strongly and made up for poor shooting early to win the men's 20K biathlon event with a time of 55:17.7.

"We are still young into the trials," Redman said. "Tomorrow's just a new day. It was nice to get this 20K out of the way, though. It was a big one."

The men compete Sunday in the 10K sprint, while the women race in the 7.5K sprint.