Fairbanks, AK - The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country teams got off on the right foot Thursday night at the West Ridge Trails as the women took the top five spots to secure a 15-41 victory over the visiting Central Washington Wildcats, while the men tied 29-29.
In the women's race, sophomore
Theresia Schnurr (Buhlertal, Germany) got her first win of the season, crossing the finish line in 20:46.1. From there the Nanooks clinched the next four scoring spots after redshirt and open-class racer
Raphaela Sieber (Voehrenbach, Germany) second place performance (21:09.8). Newcomers
Maria Stensland (22:09.9) and
Heather Edic (Fairbanks, AK) (22:11.0) landed third and fourth spots, followed by juniors
Aurelia Korthauer (Bonndorf, Germany) (22:17.4) and
Jana Bennedix (Fairbanks, AK) (22:48.7).
Other Nanooks scoring points in the women's race included sophomores
Rebecca Konieczny (West Yellowstone, MT) (23:38.0) and
Kate Bennett (26:37.8).
Rookie
Tyler Kornfield (Anchorage, AK) led Alaska's men with his third place performance (18:31.9), crossing the finish line behind CWU's Manuel Santos (17:57.7) and Matt Nodine (18.27.7) who placed first and second.
Seniors
Ray Sabo (Whitehorse, Yukon) (19:04.1) and
Einar Often (Tynset, Norway) (19:09.6) crossed next for Alaska, and junior
John Parry (Whitehorse, Yukon) (19:12.7) used a strong sprint through the last 100 meters to edge open-class runner
Lars Arneson (Soldotna, AK) (19:13.8) out of seventh place. Rounding out the top ten were sophomore
Mitch Chandler (Chattaroy, WA) (19:33.6) and senior
Sam Tilly (Rainbow Valley, AK) (19:41.6).
Rounding out the scoring for the Nanooks were
Henri Soom (Tartu, Estonia) (19:56.0),
Ian Wilkinson (Fairbanks, AK) (20:02.6),
Joseph DeWilde (North Pole, AK) (20:06.6),
Alex Morris (Anchorage, AK) (20:15.6) and
Cody Priest (Palmer, AK) (20:35.1).
Both teams will take to the starting line again on Saturday in a three kilometer race at Birch Hill. The women's race will begin at 9 a.m. and the men will follow at 9:30 a.m.
