Men's skiers takes 4th in CCSA Championships Relay

February 4, 2013

University Relations

Jamie Foland
907-474-6807

Iishpeming, Mich. - The Alaska Nanooks saw its three-man ski team wrap up the weekend at the 2013 Central Collegiate Skiing Association Championships by taking fifth place in the three lap by 10 kilometer relay race on Sunday at Al Quaal Cross Country Trails.

The Nanooks were represented by senior Ian Wilkinson (Fairbanks, Alaska/Art), junior Lars Arneson (Soldotna, Alaska/Medchanical Engineering) and sophomore Andrew Arnold (Anchorage, Alaska/Chemistry). The trio combined to finish all three legs in 1:10:45.4. NMU produced the winning trifecta of Kyle Bratrud, George Cartwright. and Erik Soderman.

After the first leg of the race, the Nanooks were in seventh place, and they dropped one spot over the course of the second leg before they saw a late surge propel them to fourth in the final lap moving them to fifth overall and fourth on the day.

College of St. Scholastica's team finished second, while Michigan Tech had two teams, who finished ahead of the Blue and Gold in third and fourth place.

Two more Nanooks, sophomore Wyatt Mayo (Fairbanks, Alaska/Biological Sciences) and freshman Kenneth Brewer (Chugiak, Alaska/Biological Sciences) competed on a mixed team with NMU's Ben Hugus and their team finished ninth in 1:13:07.5.

Alaska scored 51 points on the day, behind first-place NMU (78), CSS (69) and MTU (60). Wisconsin Green Bay finished fifth on the day with 42 points, followed by Gustavus Adolfus with 33 and St. Olaf with 24.

"I am very proud of how this team performed this weekend," Alaska head coach Scott Jerome said.

The rest of the Nanooks will be back in action for the second week of the CCSA Championships Feb. 16-17 in Coleraine, Minn. at Mt. Itasca.

The men take on a 10K interval start classic technique event to open the weekend and then close out the four-event series with a 20K mass start freestyle race.