Nanooks, Seawolves Tie in Inaugural Alaska Nordic Cup
FAIRBANKS, AK-The inaugural edition of the Alaska Nordic Cup wound up dead even.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks' cross country ski team battled Alaska Anchorage to a 21-all tie in the first Alaska Nordic Cup, held Sunday as part of the Besh Cup at Birch Hill on the east side of Fairbanks.
UAF pulled out the tie when junior Erik Wickstrom (Boras, Sweden) out dueled UAA's Brian Gregg for third place in the men's 10 kilometer freestyle race. Wickstrom's finish gave the Nanooks an 11-10 victory over the Seawolves in the men's race. UAA had taken the women's competition by the same score.
Junior Thomas Oyberg (Skjak, Norway) of Alaska Fairbanks finished first overall in the men's 10 k race. He took the lead midway through the race and finished 20.3 seconds ahead of second place Kjetil Dammen of UAA. Gregg followed Wickstrom by less than 10 seconds, and Brent Knight of the Seawolves was fifth in 29:12.1. UAA's Zach Violett was seventh in 29:20.5 and the Seawolves' Benjamin Sonntag was eighth in 29:50.5, just ahead of UAF's Jed Kallen-Brown (Sr. Fairbanks, AK), who was ninth in 29:50.8. Freshman
Marius Korthauer (Bonndorff, Germany) of the Nanooks was 11th in 30:27.1.
Junior Johanna Turunen (Joensuu, Finland) of UAF finished first overall in the women's race in 15:11.4. Alaska Anchorage's Nicole deYoung and Sarah Hansen were third and fourth, respectively, in 15:53.8 and 16:07.5. Graduate student Heidi Rader (Fairbanks, AK) was fifth in 16:22.9. Gina Baker of the Seawolves was sixth in 16:36.2. Brittany Greer and Davya Bauer of UAA were next, ahead of the Nanooks'
Tamra Kornfield (Fr. Anchorage, AK) and
Krynn Finstad (So. Fairbanks, AK).
"We had a good day, and I was pleased with our performance," said UAF Head Coach
Scott Jerome. "Johanna is an excellent skier who will be a contender at the NCAA Championships. Heidi Rader had her best race of the year, and if she hadn't skied as well as she did, we would not have tied. I could not have predicted her effort, and she skied very well."
Jerome was also pleased with the men. "Thomas clearly was in a class by himself, and he showed that he will be in contention when we go to the NCAA Championships in March," said Jerome. "Erik continued his streak of skiing well, and he showed that he will be a contender for All-American honors at the NCAAs. Jed started out strong, but may have gotten a bit tired towards the end. He's skied very well lately, but the travel may have caught up with him. He'll also have a chance to be an All-American."
The Nanooks will return to action when they compete at the Central Collegiate Ski Association Regionals in Houghton, MI February 19th and 20th.
-UAF SKIING-
