Results
PALMER, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's ski team opened the2015-16 season by capturing the 12th annual Alaska Nordic Cup at the Government Peak Trails on Sunday morning. The Nanooks redeem themselves after being defeated in the Nordic Cup last season by Alaska Anchorage, but improve to an 8-3-1 overall record against the Seawolves.
The Nanooks beat the Seawolves by eight minutes, as Alaska's total time from both days was 4:35:57.0, while Alaska Anchorage concluded the Nordic Cup with a total time of 4:43:23.0. Total team times consisted of the classic top-three female times, the classic top-three male times added to the top-two mixed relay team times from today.
"We had an outstanding day at the relays this morning," Head Coach Nick Crawford described of the day. "Our team demonstrated outstanding fitness today, that didn't necessarily show in yesterday's challenging snow conditions, but it really showed today when the tracks were in near perfect conditions."
At the conclusion of yesterday's 5km/10km classic mass start, the Alaska women's team trailed by 2.7 seconds (56:51.7-56:49.0), while the Nanooks men's team dominated the trails leading by 40.1 seconds (1:40:56.1-1:41:32.2). The Nanooks and the Seawolves' combined times were derived from each team's top-three male and female finishers.
In Sunday's races, Alaska and Alaska Anchorage participated in mixed relay teams, with two males and two females on each team. The team's alternated between male and female skiers in the skate style race, skiing 5km each.
The Nanooks swept the first and second place in the relay, with senior Michael Fehrenbach, junior Anne-Tine Markset, freshman Max Donaldson and junior Nichole Bathe finishing first overall with a combined time of 58:28.5. The quartet of Nanooks finished off the weekend with a statement, as all four skiers placed in the top three amongst Nanooks the day prior.
"We were really excited to have our first two teams ahead of UAA's first relay team, as we knew it was 100 percent possible if we skied our best today," Crawford said.
The second place Alaska team consisted of sophomore Seiji Takagi, sophomore Anni Uhl, redshirt-sophomore Nick Lovett and sophomore Sarissa Lammers combined for a total time of 59:40.7, which beat the Seawolves' third place time by eight seconds.
"Anni had an outstanding race today, making up a lot of ground in the second leg of the relay after being tagged off behind. Sarissa also did a great job holding off UAA's anchor leg skier with a really strong performance today," Crawford explained.
Sophomore Jan Cech proved to be the quickest skier of the day, completing his 5km lap in 13:10.0, while Alaska Anchorage's Mackenzie Kanady had the fastest time among all women with a time of 15:33.5.
"If you look on the men's side, we had seven of the eight fastest split times, which is truly impressive this early in the season. Jan Cech had the best split time of the day, but just barely beat out our other first leg skiers Michael and Alex," Crawford said.
The Alaska Nanooks ski teams take a break from competition over the holidays, but return Jan. 3 – 9, 2016 for the United States Senior Nationals in Houghton, Michigan.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks ski teams, follow @NanooksXC on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks on Facebook.
