Results

MINTURN, Colo. – On Sunday, the Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams finished sixth in the Nordic standings of the Denver University Invitational, competing in the 10/5km individual-start, classic race at the Maloit Park Trails.

"This weekend we didn't achieve the results I know that we are capable of, but it wasn't for a lack of effort on behalf of the team," head coach Nick Crawford said. "Today  was similar to yesterday with a few solid individual performances but overall, not as good as we would have liked."

The two Alaska teams placed sixth with a combined score of 176 points and eighth in the overall standings, which include alpine and Nordic skiing. Colorado University finished first overall (657) and first in the Nordic standings (360), followed by Denver (319), Utah (314), Montana State (279) and New Mexico (210).

In the men's 10km classic race, it was junior Max Donaldson who was the highest-finishing Nanook on the day, as Donaldson completed the race in 35:41.1 to rank 126h overall. Lovett's finish gave the Nanooks 17 points on the day, followed redshirt-senior Nick Lovett, who finished 21st overall with a time of 36:13.5 to add 13 points on the day.

Redshirt-senior Jan Cech was the third Alaska men's skier to cross the finish line, posting a time of 36:44.7 to rank 24th overall for 11 points.

Sophomore Luk Platil (37:14.5) and junior Arnaud Guyon (37:19.9) rounded-out Alaska's top-five skiers, placing 27th and 28th overall, respectively.

With Donaldson, Lovett and Cech's performances, the Alaska men's team placed sixth in the Nordic race with 47 points.

"for the most part, our men were five to 10 spots behind where they've been finishing throughout the season but its hard to know if it was the altitude, our travel schedule or the course that didn't play into our favor," Crawford continued. "Max had a great race today, I used to always think that Max was a much stronger skate skier than classic but over the last two seasons he seems to do equally well in both."

On the women's side, senior Ann-Cathrin Uhl posted a 15th place finish in the women's 5km classic race with a time of 20:39.0 for 17 points.

Sophomore Anna Darnell completed the 5km race in 21:11.0 to finish within the top-20, placing 20th overall for 14 points. Freshman Hannah Dueling was the last scorer for the Alaska Nanooks with a time of 21:13.5 to place 21st overall for 13 points.

Freshman Anja Maijala was the last Alaska skier to compete in Sunday's race, posting a 28th place finish with a time of 22:10.8.

The Alaska Nanooks women's Nordic ski team combined for 44 points thanks to Uhl, Darnell and Dueling's performances to place sixth in Sunday's women's classic race.

"The women had a pretty good day, despite just four finishers today," Crawford concluded. "It was good to have Anni feeling better today for one of her best classic races of the year. Hannah also did well today in what was probably her best race of the season so far, finishing as our third scorer just behind Anna."

The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's Nordic ski teams will be back in action at the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Conference Championships and NCAA West Regionals on Saturday, Feb. 24 and Sunday, Feb. 25 at Howeslson Hill in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

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.