BETHEL / RUMFORD, Maine?Paced by a second-place showing by senior Raphael Wunderle, the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves are in fifth in the standings after the first day of the NCAA Skiing Championships on Thursday. Along with Wunderle, the Seawolves' freshmen Sadie Bjornsen and Alex Parker finished in the top-10 for All-American status.
After four events, the Seawolves finished the day in fifth with 283 points. The Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association dominated, taking five of the top six positions. In first was Denver with 330 points, followed by Vermont (326) and Utah (318) in third, while Colorado (299) finished in fourth.
On the Black Mountain of Maine cross country course, Wunderle finished his last collegiate 10K classical race in a time of 24 minutes, 25.5 seconds, just over ten seconds behind the first place finisher (Juergen Uhl, 24:14.9). Wunderle's runner-up finished is the highest placing for the Seawolves at Nationals since the 2006 season. The second-place finish is Wunderle's career-best in the classical race and his overall top performance at the NCAAs.
Making the top-20 in the classical was siblings sophomore Max Treinen (25:11.8) and freshman Lex Treinen. In his second appearance at the NCAAs, Max finished with a career-high 13th-place, improving seven positions from his rookie season. Lex completed the course in 25:18.4 for a season-high-tying personal-best16th in the classic.
Making the podium in her freshman season was Sadie Bjornsen, who claimed All-American status after completing the 5K classic with a time of 14 minutes, 9.8 seconds for third place?improving one position from the NCAA West Regional meet on Feb. 19-21. Bjornsen's performance is the best for a Seawolf woman skier since UAA standout Mandy Kaempf's victory in 2005.
Also competing for UAA in the classic was freshmen Laura Rombach (15:14.6) and Jaime Bronga (15:14.8). The duo finished the race in 23rd and 24th, respectively. Unfortunately, Bronga fell in the race and due to the tightness of the 5K; she wasn't able to make up for the lost time.
The men's Nordic team led Alaska Anchorage with 98 points for a second place, falling only to CU (110). The women's cross country team finished in third with 77 points, behind DU (111) and Dartmouth College (94).
On the Sunday River slopes, the Seawolves received an All-American finish from freshman Alex Parker. Parker completed the giant slalom with a time of two minutes, 37 seconds in her first National competition. Parker's fourth-place performance is the best women's Alpine finish since former skier Aurore de Maulmont took first in the GS in 2002.
Parker's fellow classmates, Lacy Saugstad and Sandra MacDonald finished in 28th and 33rd to give the Seawolves another 60 points for seventh place in the GS. Saugstad raced to a two-run time of 2:42.81, while MacDonald was clocked at a combined time of 3:03.10.
On the men's Alpine side, the Seawolves completed the GS with 48 points for 10th. UAA was led by freshman Halfdan Falkum-Hansen (2:35.90) in 21st and sophomore Egil Ismar (2:36.48) in 22nd. Senior Jonathan Hverven rounded out the UAA skiers in 29th in a time of 2:40.42.
The NCAA Championships will resume tomorrow with the men's and women's slalom races. Competition starts with the men's first run at 9 a.m. (EDT) followed by the women's first run at 10:15 (EDT)
