Men's results
Women's results
YAKIMA, WA - Despite holding out a number of its top runners, the Alaska Nanooks got solid performances in both the men's and women's divisions Saturday at the Central Washington University Cross Country Invitational held at the Apple Ridge Course.
The Nanook women finished third overall with a score of 65 points, while the men were slated in fourth place with 108 points. Western Washington took the men's (19) and women's (31) team titles.
“I'm proud of the way the team responded and left it all out on the course today,” said head coach Scott Jerome.
RookieHeather Edic (Fairbanks, AK), led the way for the Nanook women on the 4k course, turned in the fifth best course time of 16:35. Also finishing in the top ten was Jana Bennedix (Fairbanks, AK), whose time of 16:54 was good for eight place.
Crossing the finish line third and fourth for Alaska was Marit Rjabov (Voru, Estonia) in 17:40 and Rebecca Konieczny (West Yellowstone, MT) in 17:44.
In the men's 6k run, sophomore Mitch Chandler (Chattaroy, WA) crossed first for the Blue and Gold in 21:23, good for 15th overall.
The Nanooks' newcomer Alex Weissberg was second (23rd overall) in 22:01 and Sam Tilly (Rainbow Valley, AK) was third (28th) with a time of 22:26.
Among the notable Nanooks not competing Saturday were Theresia Schnurr (Buhlertal, Germany), Aurelia Korthauer (Bonndorf, Germany), Einar Often (Tynset, Norway), John Parry (Whitehorse, Yukon) and Ray Sabo (Whitehorse, Yukon).
"We left some people at home to rest them after (Hawaii and) some hard training,” said head coach Scott Jerome. “It gave some other, younger runners the opportunity to travel and compete on the road.”
Saturday's race served as a preview for the 2009 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, to be held on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 9 a.m. According to Jerome this was an added advantage. “It was good for our runners to get familiar with the course in advance of the conference championships next month.”
Alaska is idle until the conference meet, which will run basically the same course; however, each race will see the addition of a lap, extending the men's leg to eight kilometers and the women's to six kilometers.
