ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Nanooks Nordic skiing teams are set to compete in the RMISA Championships this week, which will be held by Alaska Anchorage at Kincaid Park. Friday will see the teams race in the 7.5k classic individual start before wrapping up the weekend with the 20k freestyle mass start on Saturday.
Friday, Feb. 21
at RMISA | 7.5k Classic Individual Start
Kincaid Park | Anchorage, Alaska
Saturday, Feb. 22
at RMISA | 20k Freestyle Mass Start
Kincaid Park | Anchorage, Alaska
Last Time Out
The Nanooks are coming off a third-place finish at the UAF Invite, highlighted by a pair of individual victories in the 10k freestyle by Ben Dohlby and Kendall Kramer this past Monday.
The invite began on Sunday with classic sprints, where 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.
In Monday's 10k freestyle, three Nanooks finished on the podium, with Kramer (25:57.4) and Dohlby (23:05.8) earning decisive victories and Tabitha Williams (27:07.9) placing third. After the first lap of the women's race, Kramer was over 11 seconds behind Utah's Erica Laven in first. However, she kept calm and was able to close that gap, posting the fastest time in each of the final four laps and eventually overtaking Laven in the final lap to take first place by over 15 seconds. Dohlby began his race with the second-fastest time on the opening lap, trailing Utah's Brian Bushey by just under a second. He ended the halfway point of the race in second but kept pushing and led the third lap by nearly five seconds. That put him in the lead by 14 seconds with one lap remaining, and he would win by 16.7 seconds.
#NookNotes
- Kramer's victory in the 10k freestyle gives the Fairbanks native her second race victory this season, having earned the victory in the 20k classic at the U.S. Nationals in Anchorage earlier this year. This also marks her fifth podium finish of the season; she took third in the 7.5k classic at the Utah Invite, and earned a pair of second-place results in the 15k freestyle and 10k freestyle at the Utah Invite and U.S. Nationals, respectively.
- Dohlby earned his first career win in the 10k freestyle last week. His previous career-best RMISA finish came in the 7.5 classic at the Denver Invite earlier this season, where he earned an eighth-place result.
- Williams' third-place finish was her first career podium for the 'Nooks. Her previous career-best RMISA result was an 11th-place finish in the 7.5K Freestyle at the Utah Invitational last season.
- The Nanooks finished sixth overall and fourth in the Nordic standings in last season's RMISA Championships, earning 262 points.
What's to Come
The Nordic skiing season concludes with the NCAA Championships, held on March 6 and 8 in Hanover, N.H. The competition will begin with a 7.5k classic individual start and conclude with a 20k freestyle mass start.
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