Snowflakes were falling this morning as the Alaska Nanooks Skiing and Cross Country Teams lined up for the annual 3,000 m time trial.The women, on a  flip of the coin last night, were given the opportunity to run first as the men warmed up.  Freshman skier Theresia Schnurr of Germany clocked in at 10:49 in the number one position.  Not too shabby after bounding on Tuesday, ski walking on Thursday, and specific strength yesterday.  Junior skier Julia (Coulter) Pierson of Traverse City, Michigan, set a PR in 10:59, good for second place.  NCAA First Team All American skier Aurelia Korthauer of Germany took third in 11:14.  Assistant coach Ingrid Olson showed that all of her 5:30 a.m. training is paying off as she took 4th with a new PR of 11:23.  And freshman runner Jana Benedix of Fairbanks took 5th in 11:39.  Anna Coulter was sidelined due to illness, but she cheered her teammates wearing 18 layers of polypropylene, wool, and Gore-Tex.

Freshman runner Mitch Chandler from Chattaroy, Washington, took the top spot (wearing heavy training shoes due to a tight calf and hamstring) in 9:09.  CC senior Chris Eversman of Fairbanks was second in 9:11.  Sophomore skier Ray Sabo was third overall and first among skiers in 9:19.  Another freshman runner, Matt Scerbak of Ypsilanti, Michigan, was 4th in 9:21 while junior skier Einar Often took 5th in 9:33.

Former Nanook and NCAA National Champion Marius Korthauer decided not to run, but instead taunted his former teammates from infield of the track.  Marius remains in Fairbanks to work on in MBA, ski for Rossignol, and show off his physique to wide-eyed freshmen.

This was the last time trial before selection of the CC travel squad for a meet in Hawaii on October 11.  Maybe we’ll take our skis and do some sand skiing on Waikiki Beach.  More on that later. -SJ

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