BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Alaska Nanooks Nordic ski team began the RMISA Championships at Montana State on Friday, Feb. 28 with Tristan Sayre and Anja Maijala leading the way in the men's and women's categories. 
 
Leading off the day at Championships was the women's 5km free race. Maijala grabbed the top finish for the 'Nooks, finishing 19^th place with a time of 14:37.0 and picked up 15 team points for Alaska. The Nanooks next finisher was Hannah Deuling who finished 23^rd overall with a time of 15:02.3. Catherine Reed-Metayer was the last Nanook to grab team points, picking up 13 with a 26^th overall finish and 15:12.1 time. Sarah Olson, Rya Berrigan  and Sage Robine rounded out the finishers for the 'Nooks in the 28^th, 29^th and 30^th place finishes. 
 
On the men's side of the race, a 10km free, saw Fairbanks-native, Tristan Sayre lead the way for Alaska with a 14^thplace finish, putting up a time of 25:55.2. Mike Ophoff was close behind, finishing 16^th overall and a time of 26:06.5. After the top two finishers, the next Nanook finisher was in 21^st place. Christopher Kalev picked up a finishing time of 26:44.8. 
 
Lukash Platil, Logan Mowry and Karl Danielson wrapped up the skiers for Alaska, finishing in 25^th, 26^th and 30^thplace. 
 
After day one of Championships in Montana, the Nanooks find themselves in seventh place in the team category as the men's team finished the day with 46 points and the women ended with 42 for a total of 88 day one points. 
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks Nordic Ski team, follow @AlaskaNanooksXC on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.