STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. - The Alaska Nanooks Nordic ski team finished the RMISA Championships/NCAA West Regional in seventh-place, qualifying a full-team at the NCAA Championships for the first time under head coach
Eliska Albrigtsen.
On the final day at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs, Colo., the Nanooks were led by
Mariel Pulles and
Mike Ophoff. In the women's 15k freestyle, Pulles raced to a third-place finish with a time of 46:59.8 and 34 points.
Kendall Kramer followed right behind, taking fourth-place with a time of 47:04.1 and 31 points.
Rya Berrigan was the final scoring Nanooks racer, finishing 23rd for 14 points. She raced to a time of 54:45.4.
Aila Berrigan and
Sarah Olson rounded out the race for Alaska. Berrigan finished in 25th with a time of 56:15.6 while Olson followed in 26th with a time of 57:35.9.
In the men's 20k freestyle, the Nanooks were led by Ophoff, finishing in 12th-place with a time of 54:11.8 for 19 points. Close behind was
Christopher Kalev in 14th-place. He followed 20 seconds behind, finishing in 54:31.6, earning 18 points. The final scorer for the Nanooks men's team was
Lukash Platil, finishing in 23rd with a time of 57:10.7.
Patrick Marbacher was the final racer for the men's team, finishing 30th with a time of 1:02:02.1.
Head coach
Eliska Albrigtsen had this to say about her team this season, "Kendall and Mike provided very strong results, as usual. They are the core of our team with racing in all races this season! And Chris, I'm just so proud of, he had a rough year having constant classroom/practice time conflict, so I basically had him at workouts only on the weekends...I'm sad to send the rest of the team that won't race at NCAA's home now. They have been the best 'supportive players' to the team. Our team just has the best atmosphere, they are all there for each other and every day and it shows! I'm especially sad to say goodbye to my three seniors, Luk, Rya and Patrick, who just finished their last collegiate races. I hope my team learned a lot from them, they have been that solid piece I can always rely on."
The Nanooks will next head to the NCAA Championships on March 9 and March 11 at Soldier Hollow, Utah.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks Nordic team, follow @NanooksSkiing on Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.
