University of Alaska Fairbanks senior Sigrid Aas won the Women's 5-Kilometer Freestyle Race Thursday afternoon at the 51st NCAA Skiing Championships at the Auburn Ski Club in Donner Summit, CA. The national championships are being hosted by the University of Nevada-Reno.
Aas, who has been a solid cornerstone for the Nanook ski team all season, beat Alaska Anchorage's Mandy Kaempf for the title.
Aas zipped through the course in 11 minutes and 55.5 seconds, eight seconds in front of runner-up Kaempf, who completed the course in 12:03.3. Barbro Hatlevik of Utah finished third in 12:06.8.
Johanna Turunen represented UAF very well by finishing sixth in the women's individual competition. She finished the course in a time of 12:16.6. Sigrid Lagerfelt wrapped up the scoring for the Nanooks by taking 37th overall. She completed the race in a time of 13:38.7
Brent Lowen led the Nanook men by finishing 18th in the men's individual standings. Lowen finished the 10 kilometers in a time of 23:00.8. Jonas Tetlie was three spots back in 21st place with a time of 23:08.6. Erik Wickstrom finished 25th in the final standings and completed the course in 23:22.0.
The four-day championships continue through Saturday. The slalom will be held Friday at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort starting at 9:30 a.m. near the mid-mountain lodge and the women's 15K and men's 20K classical Nordic races will be held Saturday at Auburn Ski Club at their training center on the West side of the Boreal Ski Area parking lot, starting at 9 a.m.
Team Scores After Four Events (Day Two): 1. Denver 333; 2. New Mexico 307; 3. Utah 304.5; 4. Vermont 295; 5. Colorado 275.5; 6. Middlebury 259.5; 7. Alaska Anchorage 226; 8. Dartmouth 202; 9. Nevada 178; 10. Alaska-Fairbanks, 132; 11. Colby 112.5; 12. Williams 93; 13. Montana State 81; 14. Northern Michigan 77; 15. New Hampshire 65; 16. Western State 48; 17. Boise State 41; 18. St. Lawrence 24; 19. Whitman 21; 20. Bates 18; 21. Harvard 17; 22. Michigan Tech 2; 23. Wisconsin-Green Bay 1.
