Loffler leads men's skiers to second place finish in 10K classic

February 19, 2013

University Relations

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807

Sophomore Jonas Loffler (St. Märgen, Germany/Business) led the Alaska men's skiing program to a second-place team finish in the 10-kilometer classic at the Central Collegiate Ski Association Championship on Saturday at Mt. Itasca.

Loffler completed the race with a time of 26 minutes, 19.7 seconds, which was good for third place individually. His mark was 10.5 seconds back of Northern Michigan's Erik Soderman and 5.0 seconds off of NMU's Kyle Bratrud, who took first and second place, respectively.

The Nanooks completed the day with 67 points, which was second to Northern Michigan (76). Following the 'Nooks was the College of St. Scholastica (62), Michigan Tech (62), Wisconsin Green Bay (41), Gustavus Adolphus (35) and St. Olaf (26).

Alaska also turned in two more top-10 finishes and had all five skiers finish in the top 15.

Freshman Michael Fehrenbach (St. Märgen/Mechanical Engineering) was seventh with a time of 26:47.5, and senior Lex Treinen (Anchorage, Alaska/Northern Studies) rounded out the top 10 in 27:02.4.

Placing 14th was rookie Max Olex (Aalen, Germany/Northern Studies) after he clocked a time of 27:27.1 while senior Tyler Kornfield (Anchorage, Alaska/Mechanical engineering) finished right behind Olex as he crossed the line in 15th with a mark of 27:28.6.

“We just didn't have much pop as a team today,” Jerome said. “We looked flat. I anticipate some angry skiers tomorrow. I hope that anger is channeled into good skiing in the mass start skate.”

Entering tomorrow's 20-kilometer mass start freestyle, Alaska sits in fourth place with 172 points. NMU leads the seven-team field with 227 points, followed by second-place CSS (196) and third-place MTU (174).