Results

SEATTLE – On Saturday, the Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country running teams competed in the Emerald City Classic at the Lower Woodland Park with junior Lukash Platil and redshirt-junior Alex Bergholtz being the first Nooks to cross the finish line for their teams.

In the women's 6km race, Alaska Fairbanks ranked third out of six teams with 89 team points and a total time of 2:08:01. In the men's 8km race, Alaska ranked fourth with 112 points with a combined time of 2:27:16.

Although the race took place, there was inconclusive results until Sunday morning when official results were released.

"I was pleased with how the team raced yesterday and we fared well against a small field of NCAA competitors," head coach Nick Crawford said on Sunday. "Our biggest goal for the race was working on pacing and race strategy in preparation for our upcoming races against a stronger GNAC field. Both the men and the women experimented today with going out fast, running some fast first mile splits. It made for a tough last lap but I was pleased with how the team held strong."

In the men's race, Platil placed 12th overall with an 8km time of 27:15 for 11 points. The Thornton, Colorado native was the third Great Northwest Athletic Conference harrier to cross the finish line, averaging a mile time of 5:28.

Redshirt-freshman Jack Matherly was the second Alaska runner to cross the finish line, placing 28th overall with a time of 28:05 for 19 points. Newcomer Zephan Ozturgut placed third among his teammates and 41st overall with a time of 29:00 for 24 points.

Rounding out Alaska's top five men were freshmen Nathan Sanches (30:48) and Karl Danielson (32:08), who placed 67th and 75th overall, respectively.

"Luk ran with the leaders for the first half of the race and slipped back a bit on the last lap but still had a solid performance yesterday leading the team," Crawford said of his men's team. "Jack did really well in his first 8km race. An injury last fall sidelined him most of the year last year but this year he's really proving that he's one of our top runners. Zephan and Nate also had great races yesterday and are improving each week as they get more and more comfortable with college training and racing in their first semester at UAF."

In the women's 6km race, Bergholtz placed fifth overall, becoming the first NCAA runner to cross the finish line in Saturday's race. Bergholtz posted a time of 23:19, registering an average mile time of 6:15.

Bergholtz was followed by sophomore Anja Maijala, who picked up a top-20 finish by placing 19th overall with a time of 24:55 for 14 points. Freshman Kirsys Campbell was the third Alaska runner to cross the finish line, placing 34th overall with a time of 26:27.

Rounding out Alaska's top-five runners was sophomore Hannah Dueling (26:29) and freshman Catherine Reed-Metayer (26:51), who placed 35th and 37th, respectively.
"Alex had a great race as we've come to expect over the past year and a half and this race she was fifth overall and the top NCAA finisher," Crawford commented. "Anja didn't feel like her leg speed is quite where she wants it to be but her fitness is great and she had a good performance as our second finisher today. More focused running speed workouts over the next week should help her improve as we move towards the GNAC Championships in four weeks. I was also really pleased with the pack of Hannah, Kirsys and Catherine, who ran together and stayed strong throughout the entire race. This was an especially strong performance for Catherine and a big improvement over her first cross country race of the year."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's cross country running teams will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 20, as they are set to compete in the 45th annual Western Washington University Classic in Bellingham, Washington.

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 team page on Facebook.