Thursday's Skiing Results from Championships

Alaska Nanooks senior Aurelia Korthauer was the top racer Thursday for the Blue and Gold as she finished 11th in the women's 5 kilometer classic race on the second day of the NCAA Skiing Championships. She crossed the finish line in a time of 17 minutes and 30.3 seconds, just missing a spot in the top 10 and All-American honors by 4.7 seconds.

Sophomore Theresia Schnurr finished 15th in 17:42.5, while junior John Parry and freshman Tyler Kornfield took 22nd (30:52.7) and 25th (31:00.0) in the men's 10k classic race.

Here's a message from head coach Scott Jerome about today's events:

Dear Friends of Alaska Nanooks Skiing:

We had a solid first day at the 2010 NCAA Skiing National Championships here in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Senior Aurelia Korthauer led the way for the Nooks with a solid 11th place finish (out of 39) in the 5 km individual start classic event. She was less than five seconds out of All America honors.

Sophomore Theresia Schnurr placed 15th, another good result for the women. With only two women (out of a maximum of three for any one team), the Nanooks managed to place 7th out of 19 women's Nordic programs in the 5 km race. We even bested arch-rival Northern Michigan by two points.

Junior John Parry, in his first NCAA Championship, wowed his coaches by placing 22nd in the 10 km classic race. Though 22nd out of 39 may seem "middle of the road", this was an EXCELLENT race for John. He was only 14.8 seconds out of 12th place -- this race was very tight. Although John qualified in the 8th and final position from our central region for NCAAs, he placed 2nd among our regional competitors today. True freshman Tyler Kornfield also raced well placing 25th. The men finished 11th as a team today out of 19 teams, three points behind
NMU.

As a team, including yesterday's giant slalom alpine event, the Nanooks are in 13th place out of 22 teams. When we take alpine out of the picture, we are in 10th place among all Nordic teams.

On Saturday we have the mass start free technique races. The men's 20 km race starts at 9:00 am (one hour earlier than published) and the women's 15 km event begins at 11:00 am (also one hour earlier than published).

Today's weather was a bit crazy. Yesterday we skied on klister (klister all week, in fact), but it snowed all morning with the temperature just below freezing. We ended up on warm hard wax over a hard wax binder -- nothing like the wax we tested yesterday. Below the fresh snow was a hard, hard track of old, frozen granular and ice. It was a little tricky with the wax -- we wanted to get enough "kick" without compromising glide, but it it was a fine, fine line between the two. Assistant coach Matt Dunlap, former assistant coach Ingrid Olson, and senior captain Einar Often did an excellent job dialing in both the kick and glide waxes today. I can't thank them enough. (Einar skied over 35 km testing kick wax today from 8:00 am until around 11:15 am!)

I am, of course, very proud of our student-athletes. They did a very good job today despite stressful weather conditions. Not only did they race well, but they handled themselves professionally and showed a lot of class before, during, and after the races.

Thanks again for your ongoing support. More to come after Saturday's races.

Best regards,

Scott Jerome

PS: Complete results may be found at:
http://www.barttiming.com/eisa/Results10/ncaa10.htm