SEASON REVIEW: After being predicted to finish 7th in Ski Racing Magazine's annual preseason NCAA coaches' poll, UAA completed the year with a record-breaking 4th-place performance at Nationals, producing seven All-Americans. The 2009 season started off with UAA winning its first ever invitational ? the Seawolf Invite on Jan. 8-11. During the same week, the Seawolves registered their second-best finish, third, in the UAA Invite. The Seawolves wound up fourth in the RMISA's regular-season standings as six UAA skiers received All-Conference recognition. The women's Alpine team were crowned RMISA champions, with freshman Alex Parker taking home the Alpine MVP trophy. The Seawolves also posted a program-best 13 student-athletes on the 2009 National Ski Coaches Association All-Academic team.
PARKER VOTED AS MVP: The ski team concluded its record-breaking season at the end-of-the-year team banquet on April 3, with freshman Alex Parker receiving the teams MVP award. Junior Lacy Saugstad brought home the Most Improved honor, while the trio of freshman Lex Treinen, sophomore Max Treinen and senior Raphael Wunderle were selected as the Most Inspirational team members.
NATIONALS RECAP: The Nordic team placed all three competitors in the top-5 to boost the Seawolves into fourth place for UAA's best finish ever at the NCAA Championships on the final day of competition ... easily gaining All-American honors were freshman Lex Treinen, senior Raphael Wunderle and sophomore Max Treinen ... the trio led UAA to a final point tally of 584?18 points out of second place (the Seawolves were in sixth after day 2) ... the trio tallied a season-high 130 points with Lex Treinen (44:27.4) crossing the line ahead of Wunderle by five-tenths of a second for a career-high second place finish ... Wunderle (44:27.9) completed his college career with a third-place finish for his second All-American honor of the meet and his third NCAA accolade overall ... two seconds behind his teammate, Max Treinen (44:29.9) finished fifth ... the women's Nordic team also had a successful showing on the final day of competition ... the freshmen Seawolf trio of Laura Rombach (11th), Jaime Bronga (12th) and Sadie Bjornsen (19th) made the top-20 for 78 points in the 15K freestyle ... the Nordic team also won the overall men's and women's Nordic title of the championships with 383 points ... the Alpine team was led by freshman Alex Parker, who garnered two All-American accolades with a 4th-place finish in the giant slalom and a tie for 7th in the slalom ... on the men's side, freshman Halfdan Falkum-Hansen had the best Seawolf performances, 21st in the GS and 16th in the SL ... throughout the NCAAs, the Seawolves earned seven All-America honors, two of which were repeat performers?Wunderle and Parker ... UAA has posted a combined 115 All-American certificates since the sport began at UAA in 1977 ... UAA was represented by a full 12 skiers at the NCAA Championships (see full list of skiers on page 3) ... since the NCAA has limited squads to 3 skiers per discipline, per gender in 1994, this was the first time that UAA has sent a full team ... over the past 15 appearances at Nationals, UAA has sent 11 participants twice (1997 & 1998) and 10 participants four times (1996, 2004, 2005 and 2008) ... prior to 1994, UAA sent a record-high 16 skiers to the NCAAs (1988, 1991 & 1993) ? the equivalent of a full team at the time.
UAA's NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY: UAA has produced eight individual NCAA national champions, while claiming 26 top-10 team finishes since participating at its first National Championship meet in 1981 ... from 1985-2006, UAA posted 22 consecutive top-10 finishes ... the eight overall individual titles rank the Seawolves ninth all-time in the NCAA record books ... of the eight titles, six are Nordic and two are Alpine ... current assistant Nordic coach Mandy Kaempf earned UAA's last individual National titles by sweeping the women's 5k classical and 15k freestyle races in 2005 ... UAA's highest team finish at NCAAs is fourth?acquired this season ... prior to this year, UAA's highest finish was fifth ? accomplished three times (93, 97, 98) ... the 1997 squad produced a program-best three individual champions, tying for the third-most titles in a year all-time ... the Seawolves have sent athletes to Nationals every year since 1981.
SIX SEAWOLVES LAND ON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS: Six members of the UAA ski team earned all-conference recognition by the RMISA ... for the third consecutive season, senior Raphael Wunderle was named to the RMISA Nordic First Team All-Conference after finishing the season with five top-5 performances ... joining Wunderle for their first All-Conference First Team selections were freshmen Sadie Bjornsen and Alex Parker ... Bjornsen posted four top-5 finishes out of the six races she competed in, including a season-high second place in the 10K classical at the Seawolf Invite ... Parker, the RMISA Alpine MVP, completed her freshman regular season with a conference-high six victories ... her six victories is the most for a Seawolf since former Nordic skier Mandy Kaempf posted eight in 2005 ... making their first appearances on the RMISA Second Team All-Conference were freshman Halfdan Falkum-Hansen on the Alpine team and sophomore Max Treinen and Jaime Bronga on the Nordic squad.
SEAWOLVES BREAK ACADEMIC RECORD: The ski team produced a record-high 13 student-athletes on the 2009 National Ski Coaches Association All-Academic team ? including eight skiers with a perfect 4.0 GPA ... the women's team tallied seven All-Academic honors?all to freshmen? Sadie Bjornsen, Jaime Bronga, Amy Glen, Sandra MacDonald, Alex Parker, Laura Rombach and Sarah Tegeler ... the men's squad recorded six on this year's academic team ?-senior Raphael Wunderle and junior Karl Schauer received their second honor, while senior Dan McKay received his first ... sophomore Jeff Crompton was a repeat from last season and sophomore Max Treinen and freshman Nils Sandtroen were first-time honorees.
RMISA CHAMPIONSHIP: After spending the first two days in sixth place, UAA finished in fifth with 447 points ? one slot below its 2008 performance ... New Mexico won the meet with 565 points and defending champion Colorado was second with 539, followed by Nevada with 485 points for third ... the UAA women's Nordic skiers posted a team-high 72 points in the 10K classical, followed by the men's giant slalom with 70 points ... the Seawolves placed 8 skiers in the top-10 throughout the championships .... freshmen Halfdan Falkum-Hansen (GS) and Sadie Bjornsen (5K C) both finished a team-high 4th in their respective races ... senior Raphael Wunderle made the top-10 in both the classical (9th) and freestyle (7th).
RMISA HONORS UAA WOMEN: The women's ski team was awarded the RMISA Regular Season Champions and freshman Alex Parker brought home the RMISA Women's Alpine Most Valuable Skier ... the Seawolves finished the regular season in first place in the standings with 1,055 points ... Parker finished one of the most dominant women's alpine seasons in RMISA history with six victories ... the Canadian won four out of the five giant slalom races on the season and in slalom action, she won two races and placed second two other times ... Parker is one of just eight women's alpine skiers to finish all 10 races while also qualifying for the NCAA Championships this season.
REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS: The Seawolves won one of the four regular season meets, while the University of Colorado won the remaining three ... following the four conference meets, Colorado led the final standings with 2,161 points, Denver finished in second with 2,020.5 and Utah was third with 1,988 ... UAA trailed Utah by 2 points with 1,986 points? bypassing the Seawolves' total points from 2008 (1,694.5) ... New Mexico rounded out the top-5 with 1,980 points ... the UAA women's combined team led the other women's squads with 1,055 points, 47 ahead of Utah ... the Seawolves finished in second in the women's Nordic standings with 548 points and in the combined Nordic standings with 1,049 points.
RMISA SKIERS OF THE WEEK: Freshman Alex Parker was the first Seawolf of the season to garner the RMISA Skier of the Week honor for her performances at the Seawolf Invite on Jan. 8-11 ... senior Raphael Wunderle and freshman Halfdan Falkum-Hansen were selected as the RMISA Men's Nordic and Alpine Skiers of the Week ... Wunderle was selected on Feb. 6-7 for his finishes in the Denver Invite, while Falkum-Hansen was awarded for his performance in the RMISA Qualifier on Jan 16 and Feb. 5.
DENVER INVITE: Alaska Anchorage fell to fifth in the final day of DU Invite for the second straight meet of the season ... UAA posted 453 combined points, Colorado came away victorious with 540 points, followed by Denver (492) and Utah (489) ... New Mexico edged UAA by 19 points for fourth place ... UAA was highlighted by senior Raphael Wunderle (2nd FR, 3rd CL) and freshmen Alex Parker (1st GS, 2nd SL) and Halfdan Falkum-Hansen (4th GS, 9th SL).
RMISA QUALIFIER: The Alpine team were led by freshmen Alex Parker and Halfdan Falkum-Hansen ... the rookie duo combined for four top-7 finishes between the two days ... Parker was first in the GS and second in the SL, while Falkum-Hansen placed 5th in the GS and 7th in the slalom ... if team scores were calculated for the qualifier, UAA (260) would have finished in second, one point behind Colorado (261) and New Mexico would have made the podium with 254 points for third.
UAA FINISHES FIFTH IN COLORADO INVITE: UAA finished the Colorado Invitational on Jan. 14-15 in fifth place ... the Seawolves posted a total 451 points in the RMISA race ... host Colorado came away with the victory with 564.5 points, followed by Denver with 541 points ... the UAA Alpine team contributed 245 points to the invite, while the Nordic team added 205.
UAA MAKES HISTORY AT SEAWOLF INVITE: The Seawolves made UAA history on Jan. 11 at Kincaid Park when they won the Seawolf Invitational, recording UAA's first ever victory since the RMISA combined men and women 26 years ago ... a win by the Nordic team boosted the Seawolves from second place in the standings to first, for the first-ever Seawolf victory ... UAA made up a seven-point deficit to overthrow Utah by 23 points ... they concluded the invite with 554 points over Utah's 538 ... the Nordic and Alpine team won three events and posted two second places individually, while the team had three first-place finishes and one second place.
UAA INVITE RECAP: UAA recorded 529 points over the week in the Alpine and Nordic events to finish in third place in the UAA Invitational?second-best finish in an invite ... UAA missed second place by half of a point to New Mexico ... the Seawolves posted 10 top-5 finishes, including a second place in the GS by freshman Halfdan Falkum-Hansen.
UAA FALLS TO UAF IN NORDIC CUP FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR: UAA took a commanding 27-15 lead over rival Alaska Fairbanks on Day 1 of the Alaska Nordic Cup, but failed to defeat the Nanooks on Day 2, losing overall, 44-40 ... on Day 1, UAA grabbed the top-four places on the men's side and the top-two on the women's side?led by winners Raphael Wunderle and Jaime Bronga in the freestyle races ... in their first action of the season, the Seawolf men earned the maximum 15 points by sweeping the top-four spots in the head-to-head competition ... Wunderle covered the 7.5-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 52 seconds to beat teammate sophomore Max Treinen by 10 seconds ... on the women's side, UAA earned a 12-9 cushion over the Nanooks thanks to a solid debut from Bronga (17:34) ... the Nanooks retaliated on Day 2 to defeat the Seawolves 29-13 ... the Nordic Cup returned to Fairbanks for the second consecutive year ... UAF holds a 3-1-1 record in the dual meet. (Complete Cup history on page 2).
