ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Alaska Nanooks Nordic skiing team had three skiers reach the top five of the 7.5k classic at the RMISA Championships, with Kendall Kramer and Cole Flowers coming within seconds of securing a podium position. The 'Nooks ended the day in sixth place in the overall standings and fourth in the Nordic standings, tallying 139 points.
Kramer followed up her victory in the 10k freestyle at the UAF Invite by finishing within two seconds of claiming her sixth podium this season, but she could not overtake Utah's Erica Laven for third and ended the race in fourth place with a time of 22:44.6. Kramer began her race trailing the top three by over nine seconds after the first lap and found herself 13.3 seconds off a podium spot through the 5k checkpoint. She cut into the deficit on the third and final lap of the race, posting the second-fastest time with a 7:51.5, but she ended the race 1.7 seconds behind third.
Tabitha Williams followed closely behind in fifth, building off her podium finish in her last race. Despite posting the 12th-fastest time on the opening lap, she chipped away at those in front of her, posting the fifth-fastest times on the second and third laps to climb seven spots. She finished her race in 23:23.6, 2.9 seconds ahead of Denver's Eve-Ondine Duchaufour in sixth.
Aila Berrigan was the final Nanook to finish, posting a 26:36.9 to place 32nd.
On the men's side, Flowers notched another fourth-place finish, matching his result from the classic sprints at the UAF Invite last Sunday. Flowers got off to a rapid start, posting a 6:31.1 on the opening lap, the fastest by 3.4 seconds. However, he ended the second lap in third after recording the sixth-fastest time on the middle lap of the race. He would once again post the sixth-fastest time on the final lap to finish in 20:30.1, just falling out of the podium positions by 0.8 seconds.
Philipp Moosmayer followed with a 12th-place result. After holding steady in ninth place over the first two laps, he would drop out of the top 10 in the final lap, skiing to a time of 20:59.4 to put him 3.9 seconds out of 10th. Gabriele Rigaudo followed up his two top-20 finishes at the UAF Invite with another today, completing his race in 21:08.3 to take 16th.
Blake Hanley (20th, 21:28.2), Ben Dohlby (22nd, 21:44.6), Josh Baurick (23rd, 21:47.2), Aidan Hay (26th, 22:05.9) and Matyas Pavek (28th, 22:15.4) were the other finishers for the men.
RMISA Championship Team Nordic Standings (After Day One)
Utah 181, Denver 157, Colorado 152, Alaska 139, UAA 117, MSU 96
Men's Nordic Standings
Denver 89, Utah 87, Colorado 70, UAA 67, Alaska 66, MSU 42
Women's Nordic Standings
Utah 94, Colorado 82, Alaska 73, Denver 68, MSU 54, UAA 50
Up Next
The 'Nooks wrap up the RMISA Championships tomorrow with the 20k freestyle mass start.
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