FAIRBANKS, Alaska – In coordination with Moda Health, the Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country running teams hosted their second annual Blue and Gold 5km Open at the UAF ski trails on Friday evening, with the Blue team barely edging out the Gold team for the victory.

The Blue and Gold teams were intermixed with runners from both the men's and women's cross country running teams, with Blue posting the lowest combined men's and women's score of 51 points in comparison to Gold's 60 points. The women on the Blue team recorded 26 points to Gold's 30, while the Blue men collected 25 points to Gold's 30.

"Today was a really fun race run on our home trails under perfect conditions," Alaska Nanooks head coach Nick Crawford said on Friday. "This open race has come to be an important component of our season before we travel out of state and big thanks to Moda Health for continuing to support the event and our team as the title sponsor."

Senior Alex Eckert, a member of the Blue team, completed the 5km race first overall, finishing to a time of 16:20. Fellow senior Lyon Kopsack followed closely behind, finishing at 16:26 to give the Blue team the top-two overall sports. Sophomore Jacob Walsh was the first member of the Gold team to cross the finish line, placing third overall with a time of 16:30. Sophomore Lukash Platil (Gold) and Jan Cech (Blue) placed fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 16:35 and 16:36.

On the women's side, junior Alex Bergholtz, of the Blue team, was the first female to cross the finish line and 19th overall with a time of 19:56. Bergholtz was also the only female finisher to complete the 5km race in under 20 minutes, as freshman Anja Maijala (Gold) followed closely behind with a time of 20:34 to be the second Alaska women's cross country runner to complete the race. Freshman Tatjana Spaic (20:48) and senior Ann-Cathrin Uhl (20:49) placed third and fourth among women, respectively, as senior Grace Weller (20:56) rounded out the top-five women.

"Times are always pretty slow on this tough course but I was pleased at how our teams ran," Crawford continued. "We saw quite a bit of shuffling on the finish order for both our men's and women's teams from our 3,000m time trial on the track a couple of weeks ago, which makes sense since this race is a little longer and much hillier, which suits some athletes better than others."

Also of note: several Alaska Nanooks student-athletes and staff participated in the Blue and Gold 5km Open, as women's basketball seven athletes compete in the race with sophomore Lexi Carpenter placing 16th amongst women with a 5km time of 24:24. The Alaska men's basketball had 14 student-athletes run in the race, as transfer Daulton Lootens was the quickest of the bunch, finishing 22nd amongst men with a time of 21:30.

Alaska rifle also joined in on the fun, as six student-athletes ran in the 5km with sophomore Liam Eberhart placing 68th overall with a time of 35:24.00. Alaska men's basketball coaches Mick Durham (26:24) and Bobby Howard (27:43), as well as women's basketball head coach Brett Sawyer (31:42) also supported the Alaska Nanooks cross country team by partaking in the 5km.

"We were really pleased with all the community involvement including a strong contingent of the Nanook men's and women's basketball players and the rifle team, it was great," Crawford concluded.

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country running teams officially open their season next Saturday, Sept. 16 at the Sundodger Invitational, hosted by the University of Washington in Seattle.

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