Edic leads Nanooks in women's distance classic race
January 7, 2013
Jamie Foland
474-6807
Junior Heather Edic (Fairbanks, Alaska/Mechanical Engineering) paced the Alaska Nanook women's ski team for the second time in as many races, finishing 28th overall and third in the Central Region in Sunday's 20-kilometer classic mass start event at the 2013 U.S. Cross Country Championships.
Edic raced her way through the Soldier Hollow course in 1:12:18.2, besting her 2012 time in the same race by just under a minute and finishing eight places better than the year before. Senior Crystal Pitney (Fairbanks, Alaska/Business Administration) crossed two places later in 30th, good for fourth among Central Collegiate Ski Association competitors in 1:12:54.0 and improved her 2012 performance by five places.
“Heather and Crystal raced really well today,” said head coach Scott Jerome. “It was one of Heather's better career finishes in the distance events at Nationals and Crystal improved upon her debut performance last year. I was impressed with the way those two performed today.”
Seniors Marit Rjabov (1:14:10.5; Voru, Estonia/Psychology) and Theresia Schnurr (1:15:57.8; Buhlertal, Germany/Biochemistry) crossed 37th and 45th, also 7th and 9th, respectively, for CCSA finishers to round out the Nanooks who raced in the longer of the two distance events.
The results for the 2013 U.S. Collegiate Cup were also announced following Sunday's race and the Nanooks edged their CCSA rival Northern Michigan by 3.5 points to place fourth out of the 22 participating schools.
“We're encouraged by the direction we're going in based on our results (thus far),” Jerome said. “It's a good indicator of where we are in our region with respect to our training and we are training through this to peak at Nationals; it shows us we are headed in the right direction.”
The women will race their final event in Midway on Tuesday, when the skiers compete in the freestyle sprint races. The qualification begins at 11 a.m. MST (9 a.m. AKST) followed by the quarterfinal, semifinal and final heats beginning at 12:30 p.m. MST (10:30 a.m. AKST).