ANCHORAGE – After day one of the Alaska Nordic Cup in Anchorage, the Alaska Nanooks hold a 2:22 minute lead over Alaska Anchorage. This season's race is scored by the combined top-three times on each team.
In the women's race, a 5k classic interval start, UAA's Pascal Paradise took the win with a time of 16:12. Only 10 seconds behind was freshman
Kendall Kramer. Karly Coyne of UAA took third, posting a time of 16:46.
Rosie Fordham took fourth in her first race for the blue and gold, posting a 17:13 time. Tuva Granoien was the final UAA racer to finish, taking fifth.
Sarah Olson,
Rya Berrigan and
Aila Berrigan rounded out the finishers for Alaska as Olson took sixth with a time of 17:52, R. Berrigan took seventh with a time of 18:04 and A. Berrigan took eighth with a time of 19:02.
The UAA women's team combined for a quicker time with their top-three finishers, ending day one in a combined 50:42 compared to the Nanooks 51:27.
On the men's side, the Nanooks were led by
Mike Ophoff,
Joe Davies and
Lukash Platil. In the men's 10k classic interval start, Ophoff of the 'Nooks took first-place with a time of 27:53. Derek Deuling of UAA took second, crossing in 28:09. Davies and Platil followed in third and fourth, posting times of 28:27 and 29:28. UAA also finished fifth, seventh and had one DNF while Alaska rounded out in sixth with
Christopher Kalev posting a 29:55,
Patrick Marbacher in ninth with a 31:40 and
Max Beiergrohslein in 10
th with a 32:23.
On the men's side, the Nanooks tallied a combined time of 85:48 while Alaska Anchorage posted 87:55. This gave the Nanooks a two-minute advantage heading into day two as they tallied a total time of 2:16:15 while UAA posted 2:18:37. Alaska enters day two with the lead and looking for their first Alaska Nordic Cup win since the 2016-17 season. UAA has won the past three Cups. The Nanooks lead the All-Time Series 9-6-1.
Due to expected cold weather, tomorrow's 10:00 a.m. start has been pushed to 1:00 p.m. as the two teams will race in a 10k/15k mass start freestyle at Hillside Ski Area in Anchorage.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks Nordic ski team, follow @NanookSkiing on Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.
