Pitney paces Alaska women on final day at NCAAs
March 12, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
The Alaska Nanooks wrapped up competition at the 2013 NCAA Skiing Championships following the mass start free technique races at the Rikert Nordic Center on Saturday Afternoon. The Blue and Gold finished 14th in the team standings with 103.5 points.
Propelled by strong performances on the final day of racing, the University of Colorado overcame Utah (2nd) and defending champion Vermont (3rd) to take the national crown with 708.0 points.
The Nanooks ranked second among Central Collegiate Skiing Association teams as Northern Michigan finished 11th overall with 278 points.
Colorado's Joanne Reid and Eliska Hajkova took gold and silver, respectively, to push the Buffaloes past the Utes. Reid finished the 15-kilometer course in 38 minutes and 17.8 seconds handily beating her teammate by more than 25 seconds. Hajkova beat out Alaska Anchorage's Marine Dusser for the silver medal by four-tenths of a second.
Alaska senior Crystal Pitney (Fairbanks, Alaska/Business Administration) was the Nanooks top finisher on the day in 27th overall, crossing the finish line with a time of 41 minutes and 10.7 seconds.
Nanook junior Alyson McPhetres (Chugiak, Alaska/Spanish and Geological Engineering) battled through a nagging ear infection and was right on her heels and less than a second behind in 41:11.5 to take 28th overall. She improved on her classic performance from two days earlier despite being ill all week.
"She was feelilng pretty ill before the race, but decided to go for it," head coach Scott Jerome said. "Even though she improved from her classic performance it was still not what we knew she could do on a regular day in a skate race. She had been skating so well - regional champ - but this illness just took it out of her. She raced with guts, though, and that was impressive."
"Each of these five - Aly, Crystal, (and men's team members) Logan, Michael and Jonas - represented UAF extremely well at the National Championships," Jerome said. "We certainly did not perform the way we wanted, but that's a part of sports and life."