PARK CITY, UTAH – Espen Persen earned All-American honors in the men's 10-kilometer classic race to lead the University of Alaska Anchorage ski team in the opening day of competition at the NCAA Skiing National Championships.
Persen placed ninth with a time of 24:52.
JC Schoonmaker was two spots behind in 11th in a time of 24:59. Magnus Noroey finished 28th (26:18).
Pascale Paradis led the Seawolves in the women's five-kilometer classic race with a 15th-place finish (14:29).
Astrid Stav was 20th (14:35), and Tuva Bygrave was 28th (15:03).
"It was not our best day as far as results go, but everyone skied their heart out and gave it everything they had, and that's all we can ask of them," said associate head coach Trond Flagstad. "There are a lot of fast skiers out there, and all we can do is ski as fast as we can every time we toe the line. I am proud of their grit and will to ski fast. Saturday is a new race with new opportunities, and we will reset and go after it again Saturday."
Novie McCabe of Utah won the women's race (13:22), and Ben Ogden of Vermont won the men's race (23:43).
Ashleigh Alexander posted the top finish for UAA in the giant slalom placing 19th (2:06.53). Alyssa Hill was 20th (2:06.97).
Didrik Nilsen was 26th (2:01.52) in the men's race.
"Obviously not the day we were looking to have," said head coach Sparky Anderson. "Ashleigh and Alyssa both skied well, but this is a National Championship field. It's tough to push up into that top group with athletes just back from the Olympics. Guys did what they could. Didrik was solid, but again we just lack that pace. You had to go flat out, and Leon paid the price of flirting with the red-line. We're still in the mix and we've been skiing good slalom all year. We'll shift gears, move into tomorrow, and focus on good execution."
Colorado swept the giant slalom races with Magdalena Luczak (2:02.03) and Filip Forejtek (1:57.41) taking top honors.
UAA is currently 7th of 22 teams.
The NCAA National Championships continue with the slalom races Friday.
