FAIRBANKS - Eliska Albrigtsen, head coach of the Nanooks Nordic ski team has been named the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association (RMISA) Nordic Co-Coach of the Year. Miles Havlick of Utah was also named RMISA Nordic Co-Coach of the Year.

"We are incredibly proud of Eliska's selection for this RMISA honor." Said Director of Athletics, Brock Anundson, "It is a true testament to her dedication to the sport and ability to recruit, train and develop some of the best student-athletes in the sport. We celebrate with her and our ski student-athletes on their incredible success this past season and look forward to the success that lies ahead." 

This season, Albrigtsen oversaw a Nanooks Nordic ski team that finished seventh in the overall RMISA regular-season team standings but finished fourth in the Nordic standings with 991 points. In the men's Nordic standings, the Nanooks finished fourth with 483 points and in the women's Nordic standings, they too finished fourth, earning 508 points. This season the 'Nooks had 15 podium finishes, including Joe Davies' national championship run in the men's 10k freestyle on March 9 at the 2023 NCAA Ski Championships. Alaska left the NCAA Championships claiming seven All-America spots as Joe Davies, Mike Ophoff, Kendall Kramer and Mariel Pulles earned the finishing spots. Davies, Ophoff and Pulles all grabbed both First and Second Team honors while Kramer grabbed a Second Team honor in the women's 5k freestyle. 

At the 2023 NCAA Championships, Albrigtsen coached the 'Nooks to a seventh-place finish, tying the best-ever finish (2022) by the Nanooks Nordic ski program. They raced their way to 268 points, third-most in the Nordic-only standings. On the men's side, the Nanooks claimed the Nordic title with 155 points. The women's team grabbed third in the Nordic women category with 113 points. Alaska also posted 150 points in the freestyle, most at NCAA's. "I am grateful to be awarded the Co-RMISA Nordic Coach of the Year." Said Albrigtsen, "This award, although it carries my name, is a reflection of the great collaboration with my assistant coach Ben Buck and our volunteer assistant coaches; Susan Schwartz and Tobias Albrigtsen. I am also thankful to the hard-working student-athletes who reflect our coaching efforts through their race results. Lastly, this award, to me, stands as a great appreciation of the endless hours and sleepless nights I have put into bringing Nanooks skiing to the top-notch program on the RMISA and NCAA circuits in the past five years I've been coaching here." 

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.