Results

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. – The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams were in action on Thursday, as the Nooks competed in the individual-start, 5/10km classic race in the opening day of the University of Utah Invitational at the Rendezvous Trails in West Yellowstone. Alaska was led by senior Ann-Cathrin Uhl for the women and junior Max Donaldson for the men.

The University of Utah Invitational also counts toward the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association standings.

"Today wasn't our best day as a team, so we're looking forward to tomorrow's mass-start, freestyle race to finish off our three-week road trip on a high note," head coach Nick Crawford said on Thursday. "I hate to blame the weather for the team not skiing to our full potential but I've noticed that we struggle in classic races when the conditions get trickier like they did today. The temperatures rose above 40 degrees by race time and we were on some of the stickiest 'hard waxes' that we've made. Classic skiing well in these conditions takes a lot of finesse and skill that, unfortunately, the cold Fairbanks winters rarely give us a chance to practice in."

Following the day's scores, Alaska currently sits in fifth place in the Nordic standings of the Utah Invite, combining for 108 points throughout the two races. In the women's Nordic standings, Alaska ranks fifth with 51 points and fourth in the men's Nordic standings with 57 points.

Since the Utah Invite combines men's and women's Alpine skiing and men's and women's Nordic skiing for the overall standings, Alaska currently sits in eight place in the standings with 108 points, as they do not qualify for the Alpine portion.  

Donaldson was the highest-ranking Alaska skier to finish on Thursday, posting a 10km time of 27:47.5 to place 13th overall. It is the second time this season that Donaldson was the fastest Alaska male skier on the day, as the Fairbanks native collected 20 points toward the team standings.

Also scoring for the Nanooks on Thursday was senior Seiji Takagi (27:53.9) and senior Jan Cech (27:59.2), who placed 15th and 16th, respectively.

"Our men did well against our RMISA rivals, Anchorage, Montana and New Mexico, but there was a big gap between us and the three powerhouse ski teams of Utah, Denver and Colorado," Crawford said of the men's race. "Max, Seiji and Jan all had decent races today to finish inside the top-20 but all three have shown that they're capable of even better results this season. Lukash Platil had a gutsy race strategy today, as he was the only athlete in the race who went without any kick wax and chose to just 'double pole' and 'herring bone' the entire course. This strategy is used frequently at the World Cup level but is uncommon at the collegiate level. His strategy worked out pretty well with him as our fourth finisher and just outside the top-20."

On the women's side, Uhl placed 17th overall with a 5km classic race time of 16:20.1 to give the Nanooks 18 points.

Following very closely behind Uhl was junior Kati Roivas (16:24.3) and sophomore Anna Darnell (16:31.4), who placed 18th and 19th overall, respectively.

"Anni, Kati and Anna all finished quite close to each other in the results and all three were inside the top-20 for a pretty good race for the team," Crawford concluded. "I think all three would have liked to be a few spots higher up on the results sheet but it was still a good day."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams will race in 15/20km mass-start freestyle race tomorrow (Friday, Jan. 19) to close out the University of Utah Invitational at the Rendezvous Trails in West Yellowstone, Montana. The first race is scheduled for 7:30am AKST.

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.