Sept. 1, 2007
Photo Gallery 
Complete Results
FAIRBANKS, AK- Alaska's cross country team wrapped up their two-meet homestand against Brigham Young University-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University with a highly-competitive short track run at the Birch Hill Ski Trails.
A team effort netted the Nanook women their second win of the season, knocking off HPU (24-35), but falling to BYU-Hawaii in the double-duel meet by a final of 24-31. On the men's side, it was more heartbreak for the Blue and Gold, as they were once again edged by BYUH, 28-29: the same scoreline that separated the two teams at Thursday's meet. The men also fell to Hawaii-Pacific, 20-35.
Alaska's women landed three of the top six spots, led by junior Anna Coulter, who completed the course in 14:36.1, good enough for fourth place in the overall standings. Right behind Coulter were graduate student Beth Zirbes and freshman Nikkol Sipes, who grabbed fifth and sixth place, respectively.
"I think we all ran really well together," said Coulter, whose twin sister Julia was once again forced to miss the race due to illness. "It's really fun to see the team so close together. It's really exciting and really good to have people running together: that's what makes a strong team."
Head coach Scott Jerome also praised the group's effort. "I thought Beth and Nikkol had really good races," he said. "They were able to work up and put on a strong second half. That was quite a team effort, and that's what you have to have: you don't need to have superstars, just depth."
On the men's side, senior Vahur Teppan scored the men's highest finish, coming in at fifth place overall with a time of 11:51.4. The meet concluded a solid week for Teppan, who also placed a team-best sixth place on Thursday.
"A couple of guys got away at the end of the first lap and I couldn't catch them," said Teppan. "But I had a good finish again and I think our team did well again."
The men's team got another impressive performance from newcomer Zach McGill as well. The Minnesota native was the team's second best finisher, coming in ninth overall, though he missed out on an eighth place finish by only three-tenths of a second. Marius Korthauer and Ray Sabo pulled in 10th and 11th place finishes, while Michael Dunahoe came in 14th.
Though billed as a four kilometer run, the course actually measured in at 3,870 meters, making for a quick and demanding competiton.
"The race was really fast today," said Teppan. "I didn't expect that it was going to be that fast: it was much faster than Thursday's meet."
Senior Chris Eversman agreed: "The course was very short and very quick," he said. "It was almost like a sprint it was so short."
Indeed, the shorter distance did create more drama and excitement. Race winner Kenneth Harper from BYU-H, who cruised to victory at Thursday's long course, needed every ounce of energy to hold off Hawaii-Pacific's Brandon Laan in a battle for the finish line. Only two-tenths of a second separated the top two competitors.
On both sides, Alaska's runners found plenty of positives to show for their performances this weekend. "It was encouraging for the men's team that we were all pretty consistent," said Eversman. "In the race two days ago, the separation from first to fifth was like 30 seconds apart, and today, from first to seventh, we were all pretty close. That's a good sign and a good place to start from."
"I think after this weekend we are pretty confident that we can run well," added Coulter. "We don't have very many races: our season's half over after this weekend. Last season we won the Apple Ridge Run, so we are looking forward to that again: it is definitely one of our goals to claim victory there again."
The Nanooks will get that chance on Sept. 22, when they return to Yakima, Wash. for the Apple Ridge Run Invitational. The teams then conclude their season with two trips to Nampa, Idaho, for the GNAC Championships on Oct. 20 and the NCAA West Regional meet on Nov. 3.
