McPhetres, women's skiing capture Central Region title
February 26, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
The Alaska Nanooks women's ski team took three of the top six spots in the 10-kilometer freestyle technique mass start to capture the NCAA Central Region Championship on Sunday at the Michigan Tech Nordic ski trails.
Sophomore Alyson McPhetres (Chugiak, Alaska/Spanish and Geological Engineering) took the top spot on the podium in the race after completing the freestyle skate in 31 minutes, 13.2 seconds, which was four seconds ahead of any other competitor.
McPhetres, who also won the five-kilometer classic Saturday, tallied 48 points for the weekend to claim the individual region championship.
The Nanooks scored finished the championship with 71 team points, which was four ahead of Northern Michigan (67), to win the team title. Host Michigan Tech was third (57), followed by College of St. Scholastica (43), Wisconsin Green Bay (41), Gustavus Adolphus (36), St. Olaf (33) and St. Cloud State (11).
Senior Crystal Pitney (Fairbanks, Alaska/Business administration) took fourth place with a time 31:20.9 while senior Rebecca Konieczny (West Yellowstone, Mont./Biological sciences) recovered from a tough wax day on Saturday to crosse the finish line in sixth place with a time of 31:33.2.
The Nanooks had three other top-20 finishes. Junior Raphaela Sieber (Vöhrenbach, Germany/Business Administration) was 16th in 32:49.0, followed by junior Heather Edic (Fairbanks, Alaska/Civil engineering) in 32:52.6, good for 17th. Rounding out Alaska's day was senior Theresia Schnurr (Buhlertal, Germany/Biochemistry), who placed 20th in 33:25.6.
Alaska's women will wait until Tuesday, when the NCAA will announce the qualifiers for the 2013 Men's and Women's Skiing Championships being hosted Mar. 6-9 in Middlebury, Vermont. Those who are selected to participate in the national championships will compete in a 5K freestyle interval start race on Mar. 7 and two days later they will take to the line for a 15K mass start skate race.