Women's 10km Freestyle Results Men's 15km Freestyle Results
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Freshman Aly McPhetres was the top finisher for the Alaska Nanooks as they wrapped up their 28-day road trip with the second day of racing at the Mayor's Challenge/Wirth SuperTour on Sunday afternoon. The Blue and Gold combined to finish second to their rival Northern Michigan on the weekend by a 291-269 margin, with the women tying the 'Cats for first overall and the men taking second.
The women skated a 10-kilometer interval start free technique race, while the men had a 15km and both races were held on a three-kilometer loop of manmade snow.
Alaska's women entered they day in first, three points ahead of their archrival Northern Michigan. Despite McPhetres career best performance the Wildcats managed to oust them by the same margin 73-70 on Day Two for a 145-145 tie in the overal teaml standings for the weekend.
The men came into the day in second, trailing NMU by five points. Unfortunately they were missing one of their most proven skiers in junior
Tyler Kornfield who sat out sick, so they were unable to bridge the gap and finished the day in fourth to take second in the two-day event by a 148-126 margin. Michigan Tech's men were close behind in third place with 123 points.
"It was another solid day for the women with a new top skier for the Nooks, while the men's team struggled to find its mojo," said head coach
Scott Jerome.
NMU had the top two collegiate finishers with Monica Markvardsen and Molly Burger finishing fifth and 11th overall. McPhetres was just six seconds behind Burger, taking 12th overall and third among her collegiate peers in 24:26.0.
Michigan Tech's Alice Flanders followed McPhetres in 13
th-place in 24:27.0. A trio of Nanooks followed Flanders – junior
Crystal Pitney taking 14
th in 24:33.9 (fifth CCSA), sophomore
Raphaela Sieber finishing 15
th overall and sixth in the CCSA (24:40.8) while junior
Marit Rjabov placed 16
th (seventh CCSA) in 24:42.2. NMU's
Alaska's other racers included sophomore
Heather Edic, who placed 23rd overall and was 13th for collegiate (24:57.1), and junior
Rebecca Konieczny had a tough day on the course, finishing 84th overall and 37th collegiate (28:01.5). Sophomore Heidi O-Connor-Brook did not race due to a cold.
On the men's side, NMU's Erik Soderman was the top collegiate finisher in sixth-place overall with a course time of 34:04.9. His teammate Kjell-Christian Markset, produced the second-best collegiate finish in 15th in 35:02.1.
Alaska freshman
Logan Hanneman turned in the Nanooks top finish, placing 18
th overall in 35:11.9. He was the top junior skier for the day and third among collegians, while senior
Ian Wilkinson rounded out the top ten college racers in 29th overall (36:15.9).
"Our men were a bit gassed today," said Jerome. "I think the long road trip began to catch up with a few people but Ian showed excellent finishing speed in the final lap and scored points for the Nanooks."
Rounding out the men's scoring racers was rookie
Ludwig Schott, who was 44th overall and 21st amont the collegiate racers in 37:17.8. Alaska's other racers included senior Erik Soederstroem, freshman Jonas Loeffler, and senior
Alex Morris, who placed 47th, 54th, and 67th overall, respectively.
The Nanooks return to Fairbanks on Monday and will have next weekend off. They return to action the following weekend at the Alaska Anchorage Invitational on Feb. 4.
"This has been a long trip and I am very proud of this team and the professional way in which they handle themselves while on the road; they are great," Jerome said. "Assistant coaches Matt Dunlap and Bryan Pepper have done a truly excellent job all along the way. The team is lucky to
have such dedicated assistants."
