ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Nanooks Nordic ski team finished the Alaska Anchorage Invitational in sixth-place with 273 total points.
On day one, in the freestyle sprints, Mariel Pulles led the way for the Nanooks grabbing a first-place finish after a qualifiers time of 3:43.07. That was the second-best qualifier time. From then on, Pulles took first-place in the quarterfinals and semifinals before taking the top-spot on the podium for 40 team points. Rosie Fordham was the second Nanook in the final standings, placing 19th-place. She did not make it past the quarterfinals, taking fourth in the quarterfinals after a qualifiers time of 4:06.25. Sarah Olson, Kendall Kramer and Aila Berrigan, in order, were the next finishers in the standings for the Nanooks as all three made it to the quarterfinals. Olson took 22nd-place with a qualifiers time of 4:13.75 before placing fifth in her quarterfinals heat. Kramer followed closely in 23rd-place with a qualifier time of 3:58.43, the 15th-best qualifier time. Unfortunately, she took sixth in her heat, ending her freestyle sprint day in the quarterfinals. Berrigan followed in 25th-place with a qualifiers time of 4:13.31 but took sixth in her heat.
The final Nanooks women's racer in the sprints on day one was Abigail Haas. She took 27th-place with a time of 4:16.46.
On day one, Alaska's women's team finished third with 72 points.
On the men's side, the Nanooks had five men start the day. They were led Mike Ophoff, who placed 13th-place and started the day with a qualifiers time of 3:17.33. He made it to the quarterfinals before finishing fourth in his heat. Christopher Kalev followed right behind in 14th-place, posting a qualifiers time of 3:17.92. Like Ophoff, Kalev finished fourth in the quarterfinals. In order, Philip Moosmayer placed 29th with a qualifiers time of 3:26.07, Josh Baurick took 32nd with a time of 3:28.20 and Max Beiergrohslein took 34th with a qualifiers time of 3:57.11. Unfortunately, none of the final three made it out of the qualifiers run on day one.
On day two, Pulles posted another top-three finish, taking third in the 10k classical. She trailed the winner, Novie McCabe of Utah, who posted a winning time of 30:41.0. Pulles placed third with a time of 31:26.1 for 34 team points. Kendall Kramer followed with a top-10 finish, placing sixth with a finishing time of 31:47.3 for 27 points. After the two top-10's for the women's team, Fordham followed behind as the third-finisher for Alaska, placing 25th with a time of 34:37.1 for 13 points. She was the final scorer for the Nanooks women's team.
Berrigan and Olson were the final two racers to finish for Alaska, taking 28th with a time of 35:41.5 and 31st with a time of 37:44.9, respectively.
The women's team finished third on day two, posting 74 team points.
On the men's side, Christopher Kalev led the way with a third-place finish, picking up his first-career college podium finish. He tallied 34 points for the team with a finish in 26:46.3, trailing the winner, Luke Jager of Utah, who finished in a winning time of 26:27.0. Mike Ophoff followed with a top-five finish, finishing the 10k classic in fifth-place with a time of 26:48.1 and 29 team points. Josh Baurick was the final men's racer to score team points, placing 28th with a time of 29:02.0 for 14 team points. Beiergrohslein was the final Nanook to finish, taking 34th-place and finishing in 39:18.1.
Moosmayer, unfortunately, did not finish for Alaska on day two.
Assistant ski coach, Ben Buck, was impressed with the gritty finish by the Nanooks on day two, "Gritty, gutsy racing from the team today. Chris got his first-ever college podium after breaking away from the chase pack with 2k left and just holding on to third in a drag race down the finishing straight. Mike skied a very solid race missing the podium by two seconds. Rosie snapped a pole in the first 400 meters and skied the whole race with a spare. Mariel crashed on the first downhill and skied all the way back from about 20th place to get third. Kendall also had a solid race. She started to look like herself again after being sick for the better part of a month."
The Nanooks stay in Anchorage and will race at Government Peak for the RMISA Championships/NCAA West Qualifier on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks Nordic ski team, follow @NanookSkiing on Instagram, @NanooksSki on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.
