Results

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams officially kicked-off the 2017-18 season on Saturday morning, competing in day one of the 14th annual Nordic Cup in Hatcher's Pass against in-state rival Alaska Anchorage. Both teams competed in the individual-start, 10/7.5km classic race on Saturday, with UAA leading the Nanooks in both the men's and women's division.

"As a team today, we didn't have the results we would like for our first race of the season but I'm confident it wasn't due to a lack of talent or lack of fitness for the team," head coach Nick Crawford said on Saturday. "Two of our top men, Max and Arnaud, broke poles while several of our top women and men are just coming off of illness with Sarissa Lammers missing this weekend completely with a bad cold. I would rather get these sorts of challenges out of the way early in the season than at our more important races in January, February and March."

The top-three Alaska Anchorage men totaled a time of 88:23.6 in the 10km classic race, while Alaska's top-three finishers combined for 88:50.4. On the women's side, UAA's top-three tallied a time of 70:22.0 in the 7.5km classic race, while the Nanooks totaled a time of 75:51.9.

"I've got to give credit to UAA and their coaching staff because they have a much stronger team than what we've faced in recent years, especially on the women's side," Crawford continued. "Their last two years of recruiting have been very successful and I expect that they'll have a very good season ahead."

UAA's Toomas Koilo placed first overall in the men's race with a 10km time of 29:03.0. Alaska's redshirt-senior Jan Cech was the quickest Nanook to cross the finish line, placing second amongst collegiate skiers and third overall with a time of 29:19.5, only 16.5 seconds behind Koilo.

Alaska's top-three men were rounded out by senior Seiji Takagi (29:41.0) and senior Alexander Eckert (29:49.9), who placed fifth and seventh overall, respectively.

"We had a few bright spots today with Jan, Seiji, Alex and Luk all having good showings in the opening race of the season," Crawford said of his men. "These guys trained really well all summer and fall so it's great to see that come together in our first race."

Alaska Anchorage swept the top-five spots in the women's 7.5km race, led by Hailey Swirbul, who completed the course in 24:45.5. Senior Ann-Cathrin Uhl was the fastest female Nanook of the day, posting a time of 24:54.8 to place sixth overall, only 2:09.3 behind Swirbul.

Rounding out Alaska's top-three women were junior Kati Roivas (24:59.2) and sophomore Anna Darnell (25:57.9), who placed seventh and 10th, respectively.

"For the women, Anni Uhl has been a great classic skier for years and had another good race today," Crawford concluded. "I was also pleased with Kati, who has had exceptional classic results in the past but this was a great debut for her as a Nanook, as she's also coming off of illness and injury. I was also pleased with our two first-year women, Anja (Maijala) and Hannah (Dueling), who finished their first collegiate ski races."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams will compete for the coveted Nordic Cup again tomorrow (Sunday), Nov. 19 in the mixed gender 4x5km relay (weather depending) at Hatcher's Pass starting at 10am AKST.

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