FAIRBANKS, AK – The Central Collegiate Ski Association named five Alaska Nanook skiers to its first and second All-Conference teams Thursday afternoon, following the conference championships held last weekend in Ishpeming, Michigan.
The All-CCSA teams recognize season-long achievement and were based on points given out in each race. The top 20 finishers received Super Tour Points (points were awarded in each race by a 30-25-21-18-16-15-14… pattern) for each race and the points were added up to get the teams. The top 5 points-getters made the first team, while the next 5 were named to the second team.
The Alaska women, who finished second among CCSA teams, saw four skiers earn all-league recognitions. Senior Aurelia Korthauer (Bonndorf, Germany), who is undefeated in league races this season, was the lone representative on the first team after sweeping the top podium spot in both races over the weekend.
Korthauer's classmates Anna Coulter (Traverse City, MI) and Julia Pierson (Traverse City, MI) and sophomore Theresia Schnurr (Buhlertal, Germany) grabbed spots on the second team after finishing among the league's top-10 skiers in overall points.
On the men's side, junior John Parry (Whitehorse, Yukon) was the only representative on either team for the Blue and Gold as he was named a CCSA Second Team All-Conference honoree. Parry was Alaska's top finisher in Sunday's 20-kilometer mass start freestyle race, which helped pace the men's team to a third place league finish.
Just out of reach for all-conference honors but still among the CCSA's top-20 skiers were Ray Sabo (Whitehorse, Yukon), Alex Morris (Anchorage, AK), Erik Soderstrom (As, Sweden) and Ben Snow (Fairbanks, AK).
“There were bright spots for the men last weekend, like Alex Morris having a really good classic race on Saturday,” said Nanooks' head coach Scott Jerome. “With the men, we've had a hard time getting all of them at top form on the same day.”
On the weekend, the Nanooks combined to finish second overall behind the host Northern Michigan Wildcats: right where Jerome expected.
“We had tied NMU in Minnesota so we knew we could be competitive with them,” said Jerome. “On the men's side they have some depth that gave them the advantage last weekend. If our women hadn't stepped up on Sunday we could have easily been in third behind MTU (Michigan Tech).”
Alaska's rookie sensation Tyler Kornfield, who was a likely candidate for a spot on one of the all-conference squads, did not ski in the CCSA Championships but is set to rejoin the team in Michigan this week for the 2010 NCAA Central Region Championships after resting last weekend following his stint at the World Junior Championships in Germany a few weeks ago.
This weekend's events include individual start classic races on Saturday (women's 5k start at 10:30 a.m./men's 10k start 12:30 p.m.) and pair of mass start freestyle technique races on Sunday (men's 15k start at 10 a.m./women's 10k start at 12 p.m.). Michigan Tech is the official hosts for the NCAA Central Region Championships and all races will take place at the Huskies' MTU Nordic Training Center in Houghton this weekend.
While Korthauer is pretty much a shoe-in for a trip to the NCAA Skiing Championships next month, Kornfield must finish among the top eight in Saturday's 10k individual start classic race to punch his ticket.
Several Nanooks are sitting on the bubble and looking to earn one of the few spots available to the Central Region for NCAA's. With a pair of solid races this Schnurr, Pierson and Coulter could make a bid for the women, while Parry could do the same on the men's side.
Jerome is optimistic that his skiers will turn in the performances they need this weekend.
“Julia won the mass start race on this course last year,” Jerome said. “For several of our skiers they are already familiar with this course, having raced on it for the past few years, so I think they are going to be comfortable.”
This weekend potentially marks the last collegiate races for some of the Nanook seniors. Alaska's five-member senior class includes Korthauer, Pierson, Coulter, Sabo and Elisabeth Angeles.
“It's an interesting weekend because we have five seniors,” Jerome added. “The four women have been together for five years. It's their final regional championship and we've had a good run. It's kind of an end of an era with that group of women and hopefully they can end it on a high note.”
Results for all races will be posted online at superiortiming.com and alaskananooks.com.
Following this weekend's races, the Nanooks will return to Fairbanks on Monday with those skiers who qualify for the 2010 NCAA Skiing Championships training in town until Saturday, when they will head south to Colorado to get acclimated to skiing at high altitude. The University of Denver Pioneers will host this year's NCAA Skiing Championships in Steamboat Springs, CO, Mar. 10-13.
2010 Central Collegiate Ski Association All-Conference Teams
Men's first team
School - Name, Points
UWGB - Santiago Ocariz, 221
MTU - Oskar Lund, 152
NMU - George Cartwright, 144
NMU - Kevin Cutts, 111
GAC - Jens Brabbit, 104
Men's second team
MTU - Jesse Lang, 85
ALASKA - John Parry, 84
NMU - Tim Cook, 76
NMU - Chris Bowler, 74
MTU - Jesse Smith, 73
Women's first team
NMU - Christina Gillis, 159
NMU - Laura DeWitt, 157
ALASKA - Aurelia Korthauer, 150
MTU - Henna Riikonen-Purtsi, 133
UWGB - Carolyn Freeman, 130
Women's second team
NMU - Monica Markvardsen, 115
NMU - Marie Helen Soderman, 94
ALASKA - Theresia Schnurr, 88
ALASKA - Julia Pierson, 88
ALASKA - Anna Coulter, 82
