CCSA Championships Race Information & Results
Men's Individual Rankings (as of 1/29/12) Women's Individual Rankings (as of 1/29/12)
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The Alaska Nanooks men's and women's ski teams have ventured south to Michigan to partake in the Central Collegiate Skiing Association Championships in Houghton this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 11-12.
This year's two-day, four-race CCSA Championship is being hosted by the Michigan Tech Huskies at the Michigan Tech Nordic Training Center in Houghton. Saturday opens the weekend action with the men's 20-kilometer mass start classic race at 12:30 pm EST (8:30 a.m. AKST) followed by the women's mass start 15k classic race at 3:00 pm EST (11 a.m. AKST).
Sunday's races will prove a true team battle in the 3x5k freestyle relay. Each school will be allowed two scoring teams in the race which begins with the women at 10:30 a.m. EST (6:30 a.m. AKST) followed by the men at 12:30 p.m. EST (8:30 a.m. AKST).
Scoring for the conference championships is based on the two races being held this weekend as well as the sprint race results from the last day of the Hilltop Invite on Jan. 15. Freshman
Logan Hanneman and junior
Marit Rjabov won their respective 1.4k classic sprint races to lead the Nanooks to a sweep of the team and overall titles, giving them an edge on the competition as they head into the weekend.
The Nanooks have been neck and neck thus far this season with their archrival Northern Michigan but will look to outperform the Wildcats on the trails this weekekend en route to the overall team title. Last year NMU edged Alaska's women for the team title, 152-151 while the Husky men were 24 points better and combined to take the conference crown.
Alaska's men will be without top-ranked team member (3rd overall)
Logan Hanneman, who is en route to Turkey for the World Junior Championships with the United States Junior Ski Team; however, they have the second deepest roster behind MTU with five skiers among the league's top-16.
On the women's side, the Blue and Gold roster three of the top-7 ranked racers with Rjabov leading the way (2nd overall). Junior
Crystal Pitney and freshman Aly McPhetres are 3rd and 7th overall, respectively.
Next weekend, the teams travel to Ishpeming, Mich. to compete at the NCAA Central Region Championships (hosted by NMU) at the Ishpeming's Al Quaal Recreation Center Feb. 18-19.
