STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLO. – The Alaska Anchorage ski team catapulted itself into fourth place at the University of Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational thanks to strong performances in the Nordic freestyle races Saturday.
The UAA men led the field with 84 points, and the Seawolves tallied 147 points on the day, third most of any team.
Sigurd Roenning collected his first career podium with a second place finish in the men's 10-kilometer freestyle. Roenning's time of 26:41 was just six seconds behind the winner Kornelius Groev of New Mexico.
Toomas Kollo was fourth in a time of 27:07.
JC Schoonmaker completed the scoring for the men with a 16th-place finish in 28:05.
Anna Darnell led the UAA women with a sixth place finish (15:19) in the 5,000-meter race.
The women had four other women finish in the top-20. Michaela Keller-Miller was 12th (15:39), Jenna DiFolco 14th (15:44), Natalie Hynes 16th (15:49) and Marte Haakeenstaad-Braaten was 20th (16:01).
“We saw a lot of successes today with many personal best results,” said head Nordic coach Andrew Kastning. “Toomas' fourth, Anna's sixth, Michaela's 12th, Jenna's 14th are new marks for them. I think they all paced it well for altitude especially Sigurd who had never raced about 2,000 feet before, and Steamboat sits at just under 7,000. The men's team set a high bar with the win today and the women are in the mix so we'll be looking to carry this momentum into tomorrow.”
Other finishes for the women included Hannah Rudd 24th (16:25) and Casey Wright 26th (16:41).
Other finishes for the men included Marcus Dueling 27th (28:43), Austin Huneck 30th (28:53), Brandon Herhusky 36th (30:00) and Tracen Knopp 45th (30:53).
Utah leads with 410 points, followed by Denver (400), Colorado (3330.5) and Alaska Anchorage (305).
The University of Colorado Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational will conclude with the classic races Saturday.
