Men's Results | Women's Results | RMISA Results

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Led by senior Seiji Takagi and sophomore Anna Darnell, the Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams had an impressive showing in the opening day of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships at Kincaid Park on Wednesday afternoon.

The Nanooks competed in the 10km and 15km individual-start, freestyle race on Wednesday, which also counted as an official Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association race. The race did not count for league points but was considered an NCAA qualifying race.

The Nanooks faced heavy snowfall in Anchorage on Wednesday with temperatures settling around 33 degrees Fahrenheit for a tough opening race in the U.S. National Championships.

"Today was a good start to the U.S. Nationals series that also counted as our opening RMISA races, but I know we will continue to improve as a team this week and as the season continues to go on," head coach Nick Crawford said on Wednesday.

In a field of 178 skiers, Takagi finished 29th overall and seventh among RMISA skiers in the 15km race with a time of 39:24.8. In his hometown of Anchorage, Takagi finished only 2:51.0 behind APU's Scott Patterson, who finished with a time of 36:33.7
"Seiji had the race of the day for us with a top-30 finish overall and seventh place RMISA finish," Crawford continued. "I believe these are both career-bests for him and that's exciting to see as a senior racing in front of his home crowd. He did a ton of training in the off-season this year and it's great to see it pay off for him today."

Behind Takagi, junior Max Donaldson was the second Alaska skier to cross the finish line with a time of 39:37.5 to place 37th overall and 10th among fellow conference skiers. Senior Alexander Eckert placed third amongst his teammates, completing the 15km race with a time of 39:40.8 to finish 40th overall and 12th among RMISA skiers.

Junior transfer Arnaud Guyon (40:16.9) and redshirt-freshman Lukash Platil (40:34.4) closed out Alaska's top-five skiers, placing 52nd overall (15th RMISA) and 59th overall (19th RMISA), respectively.

"Max also had a great race, joining Seiji as a top-10 RMISA finisher today," Crawford said of his men's team. "Max used some good racing tactics drafting off of Nanook alumni Tyler Kornfield for a few laps. Alex, Luk and Arnaud were all inside the top-20 for RMISA skiers so having five of our guys in the top-20 means it was a good day for our men's team as a whole. Alex was especially excited for his race and it was great to see him finish as our third scorer today after being outside of our top-three men much of last year."

Darnell was the first Nanook to cross the finish line for the Alaska women's Nordic ski team on Wednesday, as the Anchorage native placed 48th overall and 14th among RMISA skiers with a time of 31:04.2. The 10km race featured 147 skiers with Darnell's time being only 3:55.0 off of Caitlin Patterson, who placed first overall with a time of 27:09.1.

Junior transfer Kati Roivas was the second Alaska skier to cross the finish line, placing 52nd overall and 16th among RMISA skiers with a time of 31:17.3. Rookie Anja Maijala was the third Nook to finish Wednesday's 10km race, posting a time of 31:59.3 to place 73rd overall and 23rd among fellow conference competitors.

Closing out Alaska's top-five finishers was seniors Sarissa Lammers (32:18.2) and Ann-Cathrin Uhl (32:27.4), who placed 85h overall (27th RMISA) and 88th overall (28th RMISA), respectively.

"Anna Darnell and Kati Roivas had our best races today on the women's side, both ending up in the top-20 for RMISA skiers," Crawford concluded. "Anna has tons of experience racing on these trails throughout her life and it showed with a good finish today. I was also pleased with Anja's skiing today, as she had a great first conference race and for behind our third scorer as a rookie."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 5, as they take to the Kincaid Trails in Anchorage once again for the freestyle sprint races.

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.