In the Mayor’s Challenge (USSA SuperTour) collegiate ski meet (CCSA/NCAA Qualifier #2) this weekend at the Theodore Wirth Trails in Minneapolis, the Alaska Nanooks tied with arch-rival Northern Michigan University for the overall team title with a combined score (men + women) of 302 points. Michigan Tech University placed 3rd with 283.

A strong performance by the men’s squad in today’s 15 km mass start classical race propelled the Nanooks into first. Erik Soderstrom bounced back from a dismal skate race on Saturday to lead the Nanooks with a 2nd place finish in the collegiate division (10th overall). Ray Sabo took 4th (15th overall) while John Parry placed 7th (19th overall). Over 140 men competed.

Sundays’ overall podium in the women’s 10 km mass start classic race was a snapshot of Saturday as the top three women in the 5 km free technique finished in the same: 1. Rebecca Dussault, 2. Maria Stuber, and 3. Aurelia Korthauer (1st collegiate). Aurelia’s double collegiate victory this weekend cements her number one overall ranking in the Central Collegiate Ski Association. Julia Pierson posted one of her best collegiate classical races ever by placing 5th (12th overall). Theresia Schnurr rounded out the team scoring by taking 11th (21st overall). Over 110 women raced.

Former assistant coach Ingrid Olson (living here in her native Minnesota) helped Matt and me wax skis all weekend (late in the evening and very early in the morning). She was a huge help and we can’t thank her enough for volunteering for the team. (We had a mixture of mist and rain for today’s classic race which created sloppy klister conditions so was terrific to have an extra set of experienced hands on our staff.)

Scores from today (out of 10 colleges):
MEN
1. ALASKA 80
2. Northern Michigan University 73
3. Michigan Tech University 66
WOMEN
1. Northern Michigan University 78
2. Michigan Tech University 77
3. ALASKA 76
Overall scores from the weekend:
1. ALASKA 302
2. Northern Michigan University 302
3. Michigan Tech University 283
Freshman Tyler Kornfield competes this week at the World Junior Championships in Germany. Wish him luck!

We head back to Fairbanks tomorrow and will be in Fairbanks until February 10th. Our next competition is at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan, on February 13 & 14.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 7:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.