Feb. 17, 2008

Men's 15K Classic Results
Men's Team Scores
Women's 10K Classic Results
Women's Team Scores

BIWABIK, MN- It took an extraordinary and remarkable sequence of events in the final day of the CCSA Championships in Biwabik, Minn., but, for the second straight season, the Alaska Nanooks have qualified a full team of six skiers for the NCAA Championships next month in Bozeman, MT.

Sitting on the bubble going into Sunday's 15K classic race, Ray Sabo thought his dream of qualifying for this year's national races had gone by the wayside, as the Whitehorse sophomore broke a pole just a kilometer into the mass-start race.

Knowing what was on the line for his teammate, however, Einar Often dutifully offered his pole to his fellow Nanook in an act of true sportsmanship.

"It just says so much about Einar as a person and what a team member he is, that as soon as he saw Ray break a pole that he, without thinking, just gave him one out of his own hand," head coach Scott Jerome said afterward. "It was at a critical point in the race, because once that pack gets away, it's hard to catch back up to them. It just shows a lot of guts and selflessness, and shows what a team member Einar is."

Given a new lease on life, Sabo would take full advantage, going on to take eighth among college skiers, bumping him from twelfth to ninth in CCSA qualifying points to grab one of the conference's ten berths to the NCAA Championships.

"Even after breaking a pole, Ray didn't panic, and went on to have one of his best races of the year," Jerome said. "He was as cool as a cucumber: he was totally calm and in control the whole time. Then at the end, he put the hammer down and outsprinted a pack of about 10 skiers to the finish line."

Often, who would eventually grab another pole from Northern Michigan coach Sten Fjeldheim, still managed to finished 23rd in the event as well. While Sabo was the closest Nanook to qualifying for NCAA's coming into the weekend, Often was still mathematically in the running for a trip to nationals himself, only adding to the magnitude of Sunday's events.

"Einar was a bubble skier as well: there's no way of knowing what would happened if he hadn't given Ray his pole," said Jerome. "But it really shows how much respect he has for his teammate. Who knows... if Einar hadn't given Ray his pole, we might only be taking five to NCAA's next month."

Marius Korthauer would be Alaska's top skier in the race, taking third place overall and second collegiately in an exciting finish with open skier Bryan Cook and Northern Michigan's Phil Violett. Trailing the two racers coming into the stadium, Korthauer pulled level with them coming into the final stretch, but could not get his nose in front, finishing just .6 of a second behind Cook and just .4 behind Violett.

Vahur Teppan, who will also be representing Alaska at nationals, took eighth place overall, sixth collegiately, with a time of 45:44.4. Sophomore John Parry also had a fine race for the Blue and Gold, taking 15th overall and 11th collegiately.

On the women's side, Aurelia Korthauer kept her up series of strong races as she heads into the NCAA races with plenty of momentum. Korthauer took third place among collegiate finishers in the women's 10 K classic, completing the course in a time of 33:09.0.

Anna Coulter's seventh place finish would give the Nanooks two of the top ten collegiate racers, as the Michigan native just missed out on sixth place as she was nipped at the finish line by NMU's Maria Stuber by two-tenths of a second.

Krynn Finstad would once again be Alaska's third scoring skier, taking 29th spot among college racers.

NMU would comfortably take the overall team title, finishing with 327 total points. Alaska's took second overall with 285 points, finishing just six points behind the Wildcats on the men's side and 36 points out on the women's side.

A relieved Sabo will now join Marius Korthauer, Teppan, Aurelia Korthauer, Coulter, and Elisabeth Habermann in preparing for the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 5-8 in Bozeman, Montana.

"Obviously, qualifying a full team to NCAA's is always a goal for Ingrid and I every year," Jerome said. "But it was one of the goals for the team as well. They got together on their own and decided they wanted to qualify a full team this year. That's what makes it so satisfying to me: it was a whole team effort. Everyone deserves a lot of credit, not just the six that qualified, but the whole team."

The Nanooks first race, a 5K skate for women and a 10K race for men, will be held on March 5, while the distance classic races will be held on March 7.