Alaska Nordic Cup Race Course in PDF Format 
Nov. 20, 2008
The Alaska Nanooks strap on their skis for their first competition of the season at the fifth annual Alaskan Nordic Cup, which features the Blue and Gold hosting rivals Alaska Anchorage in a dual meet.
This weekend’s meet is also featuring a United States Ski Association National Ranking List Points Race, which has skiers from all over the United States participate in the race and receive points to help in the seeding process for the USSA National Championship, Junior Olympics, and other major USSA events.
Alaska has an opportunity to build on their slim advantage in the relatively new Alaska Nordic Cup, which pairs the Nanooks against the Seawolves on an annual basis. The all-time Cup series sees the Blue and Gold leading with a 2-1-1 advantage. The Nanooks have also had bragging rights for the past year as they captured the Nordic Cup in 2007 paced by graduated individual NCAA Champion (men’s 20K classic), Marius Korthauer.
The Women return a host of talent to this year’s team, including two All-Americans. Twins Julia Pierson and Anna Coulter (Traverse City, MI) will carry the load for the Nanooks while a third All-American, Aurelia Korthauer (Bonndorf, Germany), will red-shirt this year.
At the national championship last year, hosted by Montana State University, in Bozeman, Montana, The Nanooks finished the combined team competition in seventh. Coulter was a key contributor as she finished ninth in the women’s freestyle 5K.
Another top returning talent for the women is senior Elisabeth Habermann (Soldotna, AK). Habermann finished in a solid 28th position in Bozeman, and will look to push Coulter for the top spot this year.
Coach Scott Jerome also has two very talented incoming freshmen to add to his roster. Thereisa Schnurr, a native of Buhlertal, Germany and, Rebecca Konieczny (West Yellowstone, MT) will be incorporated into the line up.
The men’s team however, is in a different situation than the woman’s team. The Nanooks lost their top two skiers in All-Americans Marius Korthauer and Vahur Teppan, and will look to have new skiers step up if they want to be one of the top teams in the nation again.
Marius Korthauer was the top skier for the Nanook men last season, winning the NCAA title in the men’s 20K classic race to become the program’s first male National Champion. Teppan, who finished eighth at NCAAs, has moved on to the Estonian National B Team. Both graduates completed their eligibility on high notes.
The only returnee who competed in the national championship race (as each school can only enter three skiers) is Whitehorse, Yukon native Ray Sabo. Sabo finished that race in 37th position.
Jerome is looking for his new skiers to grow up quickly. No skier for the men’s team has more than one year’s varsity experience.
Others to accompany Sabo will be junior Oyvind Watterdal (Noetteroey, Norway). Watterdal does not have any varsity skiing experience, but is anticipated to do well this season. Another Norway native Einar Often (Tynset, Norway) will embrace the challenge of filling a void left by the two graduates, as he should be one of the top skiers for the Nanooks.
Junior John Perry (Whitehorse, Yukon), and freshman Erik Soderstorm (As, Sweden) should be the other two in the lead pack for the Blue and Gold this season.
The Alaska Nordic Cup races will take place this Saturday and Sunday at Birch Hill. Races on both days are scheduled to begin around noon, however temperatures colder than -4 degrees Fahrenheit will cause delays, as per NCAA rules.
