University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

Mixed-Gender Relay Results
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ANCHORAGE – There was never any doubt the Alaska men's and women's skiing programs would hold on to the Alaska Nordic Cup for another year as the teams finished first and second in the relay portion to win the 2013 title by over 10 and a half minutes against rival Alaska Anchorage on Sunday at Hillside Park.
 
The Nanooks claimed their second consecutive Cup and seven all-time in the 10-year history of the event (7-2-1) after tallying a team time of three hours, 44 minutes, 2.7 seconds, which was 10:30.4 ahead of the Seawolves' 3:54:33.1.
 
The team times were made up of its top three men and top three women from yesterday's individual freestyle technique races at Kincaid Park and today's top mixed-gender, freestyle technique relay tandem from both teams, which was made up of two women skating a five-kilometer race and two men skating a 10K.
 
The Nanooks 'A' relay made up of redshirt junior Alyson McPhetres (Chugiak, Alaska/Foreign Language and Geological Engineering), freshman Nichole Bathe (Madison, Wis./Elementary Education), sophomore Michael Fehrenbach (Saint Märgen, Germany/Mechanical Engineering) and junior Logan Hanneman (Fairbanks, Alaska/Mechanical Engineering) won the team relay with a time 1:34:51.1.
 
McPhetres opened the race with a 17:22.0 in her 5K, followed by Bathe's 17:06.7 to open up nearly a 25 second lead heading into the men's portion of the relay. Fehrenbach extended the advantage with a 30:08.0 and Hanneman anchored with a 30:14.3 to win the event by 1:24.4.
 
Alaska's 'B' relay was second with a 1:36.15, which was nearly two minutes ahead of UAA's top tandem. Senior Heather Edic (Fairbanks, Alaska/Civil Engineering) had the fastest opening leg with a 17:14.1 and senior Heidi O'Connor-Brook turned in an 18:00.1 at the midway point. Redshirt freshman Isaac Lammers (Eagle River, Alaska/Mechanical Engineering) put the Nanooks in second place for good with his 30:26.8 split and junior Jonas Löffler (Saint Märgen, Germany/Business Administration) brought it home in 30:34.4 to claim runner-up.
 
Anchorage took third in the event with a time of 1:38:13.6, made up of Patricia Sprecher, MacKenzie Kanady, Brandon Brewster and Andrew Arnold.
 
Redshirt sophomore Kryston McPhetres (Chugiak, Alaska/Emergency Management) and senior Max Olex (Aalen, Germany/Business Administration) also competed on open relay squads. She had an 18:01.3 in her 5K and Olex clocked a 30:31.5 in the 10K, which was the second-fastest anchor leg in the event.
 
Two other male skiers competed in a 10K mass start as well. Redshirt sophomore Stefan Hajdukovich (Fairbanks, Alaska/Business Administration) was fourth in the 10-man field with a time of 31:11.3 and redshirt sophomore Kenneth Brewer (Chugiak, Alaska/Biological Sciences) was sixth in 31:11.9.
 
Yesterday, Alaska took the top-three women's spots and the men had the top five finishers to compile a 2:09:11.6, which was 7:07.9 ahead of UAA heading into Sunday's finale.
 
Following final exams and the holiday break, the 'Nooks will return to action next year as they open 2014 in Midway, Utah, for the United States Nationals, Jan. 4-10.