Men's Finals Results Women's Finals Results
Men's Qualifier Women's Qualifier
RUMFORD, Maine - The Alaska Nanooks skiers capped a solid week of racing with a stellar performance in the classic technique sprint races on Sunday at Black Mountain of Maine on the final day of the 2012 U.S. Cross Country Championships.
Junior
Tyler Kornfield, who raced his way to a second place finish in the men's 1.6 kilometer "A" final after qualifying 13th initially, was declared the event's champion after the initial victor, Torin Koos, was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct on the course. It was the second time in his career he stood at the top of the podium of three trips, after a first place finish in the same race two years prior and a third place finish in the freestyle sprint earlier this week.
"Tyler getting on the podium again was really satisfying," said head coach
Scott Jerome. "He made us a little nervous because he started in last place in each of his heats but he made his move on the second climb each time and put the hammer down to pass the racers in front of him. It's been a really rewarding day."
Freshman
Logan Hanneman was impressive again as a junior (under age 20) among the seniors, capturing 7th after qualifying 6th and then advancing to the "B" final where he finished 2nd.
"He raced out of his mind in the "B" final," Jerome said.
Equally as impressive was rookie Jonas Loeffler, who had a rough time earlier in the week and was unable to finish the men's 30k classic race on Friday but bounced back to qualify 27th and advanced to the quarterfinals where he finished fifth in his heat to take 23rd overall.
"It was a good day for him (Jonas) especially after not being able to finish the other day," said Jerome. "It was fantastic (that he made the top 30)."
Nanooks who didn't make it out of the qualifying round included senior
Alex Morris (41st), rookie
Ludwig Schott (50th) and senior
Ian Wilkinson (63rd).
For the women's team, junior
Marit Rjabov led with an oustanding finale to her week. After qualifying eighth initially, Rjabov Marit won the "B" final easily to finish 7th on the day.
"She made a smart decision in the quarterfinals," Jerome said. "The lead pack got away from her so she backed off in the semis when she knew she wouldn't make the "A" final and saved her energy for the next race. She led the "B" final all the way"
Jerome was also excited about junior
Rebecca Konieczny, who made the "B" final along with Rjabov and ended up 12th overall.
"She raced so well in the qualifier (11th) and the quarterfinal," he said. "She was stride for stride with the best skiers in the country for the majority of both of those races but she was just too tired after the quarterfinal round. It was a totally great day for her."
Konieczny was also excited with her results. "I did better than I expected to do coming into the day," she said. "I had hoped to make it to the quarterfinal and then I qualified and tied someone for 11th overall. I was in the same heat as Marit in the "B" final, but she had a little more gas in her tank then I did at that point. I was still pleased with my performance though."
Alaska was also represented by freshman Aly McPhetres (39th), sophomores
Heather Edic (44th) and Heidi Brook, and junior
Crystal Pitney (68th).
"The whole girls team skied awesome this week and that's really exciting as we move forward with our season," Konieczny added.
Both teams and their three-member coaching staff persisted through adverse weather conditions that caused a change in schedule earlier in the week and put two days of distance races back-to-back.
“We had difficulty with weather and race schedule changing this year, but I want to comp[liment my assistant coaches and the team for working through the adversity," Jerome said. "I'm really proud of the team and the way they handled themselves even though it wasn't ideal conditions and how well they raced in spite of it.”
With their performances throughout the week, Kornfield and Konieczny qualified for the U.S. World Championships men's and women's ski teams, but intend to decline the trip to Turkey and stay in the U.S. this year. However, rookie
Logan Hanneman will be attending and skiing with the World Junior team next month.
Next up for the Blue and Gold is the Hilltop Invitational hosted by St. Scholastica. The event was originally scheduled to take place in Minneapolis but due to lack of snow has been moved to Mt. Itasca in Coleraine, Minn. Jan. 14-15.
Saturday the women will skate a five kilometer individual start event at 12 p.m. followed by the men's 10k at 1 p.m. On Sunday, the teams will compete in classic technique sprints with the men's 1.4k qualifier at 10 a.m. followed by the women's 1.4k qualifier at 10:30 a.m. The men's "B" final is scheduled for 12:15 p.m., followed by the men's "A" final at 12:25 p.m., the women's "B" final at 12:45 p.m. and the women's "A" final at 12:55 p.m.
