March 1, 2009
Complete Women's Results 
Complete Men's Results
Women's Overall Standings
Men's Overall Standings
Houghton, MI -Senior Julia Pierson captured the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) individual championship on Sunday as she and twin sister Anna Coulter finished 1-2 in the 10K freestyle race at the CCSA Regional Championships hosted by Michigan Tech.
Pierson claimed the individual title with a time of 33:17.1. She was 10 seconds ahead of Coulter who held of Laura Dewitt of Northern Michigan for second place, finishing with a time of 33:27.4.
A red-shirt last year, Pierson earned the first individual championship of her career. She, along with Coulter and freshman Theresia Schnurr all qualified for the NCAA National Championships in Rumford, Maine.
Schnurr finished Sunday's race in 7th place, and helped the Nanook women take first place for the day, and second place overall on the weekend.
Oyvind Watterdal is the only male skier that will represent the Alaska Nanooks in Maine, however, Watterdal was disqualified from Sunday's competition. At the 5K mark of the race Watterdal skied off course to change his skis. The rules state that a skier may only change skis if they have a malfunction. Because Watterdal's skis did not have a malfunction, he was disqualified.
But despite his troubles on Sunday, the average of Watterdal's two best classic times and two best freestyle times were good enough to qualify him for nationals.
Ray Sabo was the first skier to finish for the Blue and Gold as he raced to 16th place with a time of 46:19.1 in the 15K.
Pierson, Coulter, Schnurr, and Watterdal will go straight from Michigan to Maine in preparation for the championships. NCAA's are March 11-14.
