Men's Skiing | 1/8/2017 9:24:00 PM

Results Page | RMISA Standings

MIDWAY, Utah – The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams were back in action on Sunday, as five Nooks posted top-50 overall performances in the classic sprint event at the US Cross Country Ski Championships at the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center.

Alaska's times in the preliminary qualifying race also counted as a Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association competition, putting the Nanooks in fifth place in the conference standings with a total of 259.5 points. In Saturday's 10/15km freestyle race, Alaska picked up 61 points from both their men's and women's team and gained 59 points from the men and 71 points from the women in Sunday's classic sprint. The University of Colorado remains in first place in the conference standings, recording 303.5 points total.

"Today was an extremely challenging day of ski racing with changing weather conditions and a cold rain all afternoon," head coach Nick Crawford said on Sunday. "I'm very impressed with how our athletes and staff coped with the difficult conditions, resulting in an overall pretty strong day. At one point, when it switched from snow to rain, we had all of our athletes who were finished racing, alumni and all the athletes still waiting to race working hard to make sure we were on the best skis possible. Today's results were truly a team effort even though we compete in an individual sport."

In a field of 254 skiers, senior Nichole Bathe was the highest-overall finisher among all Nanooks in the qualifier on Sunday, placing 28th overall with a time of 3:38.67. Bathe's qualifying time ranked her sixth among other RMISA skiers, finishing the sprint only 00:14.22 behind Craftsbury Green Racing's Kaitlynn Miller who finished with a time of 3:24.45.

Bathe's qualifying time advanced her to the classic sprint quarterfinals, which featured the 30 fastest skiers from the preliminary race. Bathe's quarterfinal time of 3:38.7 wasn't enough to send Bathe to the semifinals, but ranked her 16th overall.

In her age group, Bathe placed first among racers in the Under-23 category, improving her chances for a spot on Team USA in the upcoming World Championships in early February.

Not to be overshadowed, juniors Ann-Cathrin Uhl and Sarissa Lammers also braved the challenging weather conditions for an impressive turnout on Sunday, as well. Uhl placed 41st overall, eighth among conference skiers with a time of 3:43.90. Lammers' time of 3:45.07 ranked her 45th overall and 10th among fellow-RMISA competitors.

Senior Hannah Rowland posted a top-20 conference finish on Sunday, placing 72nd overall with a time of 3:52.47. Freshman Hannah Booher (4:03.43), senior Anne-Tine Markset (4:04.10) and freshman Anna Darnell (4:06.12) also represented the Nanooks on Sunday.

"The women's team had an exceptional day and although I haven't seen the team scores yet, I expect we did quite well in the RMISA standings today," Crawford said of his women's team. "The big highlight of the day was Nichole, who was our lone athlete who went on to compete in the heats, finishing third in her quarterfinal round. This resulted in a top-20 overall result but more importantly, she was the first Under-23 American athlete to cross the finish line today. This result will go a long way toward her goal of qualifying to compete for Team USA in the Under-23 World Championships in February. Behind Nichole, Ann-Cathrin, Sarissa and Hannah R. all had great races finishing inside the top-20 for RMISA skiers."

On the men's side, senior Michael Fehrenbach was the first Nook to cross the finish line, placing 37th overall in the qualifying race with a time of 3:49.1. Fehrenbach's finish ranked him seventh among fellow-conference skiers.

Junior Jan Cech finished right behind his teammate, placing 40th overall, eighth among RMISA skiers with a time of 3:49.5.

A trio of Nooks finished in a pack together, as juniors Seiji Takagi (4:02.8), Nick Lovett (4:02.9) and Alexander Eckert (4:03.3) placed 165th, 167th and 168th overall in a field of 304 skiers, respectively.

Sophomore Tristan Sayre (4:07.1) and sophomore Max Donaldson (4:09.3) also represented Alaska on Sunday.

"The men were led by Michael and Jan, who were inside the top-10 RMISA skiers and narrowly missed the head-to-head sprint heats against the tiop-30 overall competitors from the qualifier," Crawford said of his men's team. "They both missed qualifying by less than two seconds and I think in any other year at the US National Championships with fewer Canadians competing, they would have gone onto the heats."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams will take a break on Monday before hitting the trails once more at the US Cross Country Ski Championships, competing in the 30/20km mass-start, classic race and the 10/5km junior mass-start, classic race.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams, follow @AlaskaNanooksXC on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.