FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Nanooks Nordic skiing teams kicked off their home invite on Sunday with the classic sprints. Nine Nanooks advanced to the quarterfinals, three made the semifinals and Cole Flowers led the way with a fourth-place finish in the finals of the men's race.
The day began with the women's qualifier, where Kendall Kramer posted a 3:26.53, the 14th-best time in the round, but improved in the quarterfinals by finishing in 3:20.28, the second-fastest time in her heat to advance to the semifinals. However, she would miss out on advancing to the finals, finishing fourth in her semifinal heat with a 3:17.90. Kramer earned eight-place overall, tallying 23 points. Tabitha Williams and Aila Berrigan were the other two Nanook women to make the quarterfinals; Williams posted the 19th-fastest time in the qualifiers with a 3:30.19, and Berrigan notched the 28th-best time among RMISA skiers with a 3:43.88. However, they would finish fourth and sixth in their quarterfinal heat to end the day in 19th and 28th, respectively.
Elsie Weiss (32nd) and Lucca Duke (33rd) were the other two skiers for the Nanooks to race in the women's sprints.
On the men's side, Cole Flowers (2:47.19), Gabriele Rigaudo (2:56.41), Philipp Moosmayer (2:48.18), Ben Dohlby (2:52.62), Aidan Hay (2:56.09) and Josh Baurick (2:56.24) all advanced to the quarterfinals, but the latter four would not reach the following round. Hay, Moosmayer and Dohlby recorded 13th, 14th and 15th place finishes, while Baurick came in 26th.
Flowers would finish the quarterfinals in 2:47.85, the third-best time in his heat. However, he was one of the two third-place finishers to advance. In the semifinals, Flowers skied to a time of 2:44.47, good enough to advance to the finals, where he placed fourth. Rigaudo posted the second-fastest time in his quarterfinal heat, completing the race in 2:49.10. However, he would not reach the finals, finishing in 11th place, just 0.24 seconds from notching a top-10 result.
Also racing for the men were Blake Hanley (28th) and Matyas Pavek (33rd).
The men ended the day in third place, earning 70 points. The women recorded 52 points to put them in sixth. Alaska's 122 points have it in fifth place through one day of racing.
Team Standings (Through Day One)
Denver 182, Utah 154, UAA 143, Colorado 125, Alaska 122, MSU 116
Men's Standings (Through Day One)
Denver 95, UAA 81, Alaska 70, Utah 65, Colorado 62, MSU 48
Women's Standings (Through Day One)
Utah 89, Denver 87, MSU 68, Colorado 63, UAA 62, Alaska 52
Up Next
The 'Nooks conclude the UAF Invite tomorrow with a 10k freestyle interval start, beginning at 11 a.m. AKST at the UAF Competition Ski Trails.
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