Sports

UAA caps long week of home-snow racing with Locatelli's podium finish

The UAA ski team capped a week's worth of skiing on home snow by landing a skier on the podium Saturday in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships,.

Manon Locatelli, a junior from France, claimed third place in the women's 15-kilometer classic race at Kincaid Park.

Locatelli's performance was one of four top-10 individual finishes for the Seawolves on the final day of competition in the meet, which also served as the NCAA West Region championships.

Colorado, which boasted winners in three of Saturday's four races, took the team championship with 651 points. Utah was second with 609, and UAA placed sixth with 474.

Locatelli's third-place finish in the women's classic race marked her first trip to the victory podium this season. Joining her in the top 10 was teammate Kathrin Schratt in eighth place.

In the men's 20-K, Clement Molliett placed seventh for the Seawolves.

Capturing wins to complete sweeps of the cross-country races at Kincaid were Colorado's Mads Stroem and New Mexico's Emilie Cedervaern, the winners of Friday's freestyle races.

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Stroem edged teammate and two-time NCAA champion Rune Malo Oedegaard by three-tenths of a second in the men's 20-K, with New Mexico's Aku Nikander two seconds off the pace in third place.

Cedervaern won the women's 15-K by 24 seconds. Locatelli was 35 seconds behind Cedervaern's pace and nearly 12 seconds behind second-place Veronika Mayerhoffer of Utah.

At the slalom races at Alyeska Ski Resort, victories went to Montana State's Garret Driller and Colorado's Jessica Honkonen.

Sean Alexander led the Seawolves on the Girdwood slopes by taking eighth place in the men's race. Marion Hudry placed 16th among women to lead UAA.

The two-day championship meet followed four days of competition in the Seawolf Invitational. The two meets marked the first time since the 2011-12 season that UAA has hosted alpine and nordic races.

The season concludes March 10-13 with the NCAA championships in Lake Placid, New York.

Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships

Final team scores -- 1) Colorado 651, 2) Utah 609, 3) New Mexico 550, 4) Denver 542, 5) Montana State 513, 6) UAA 474, 7) Colorado Mountain College 73.

Classic races

Kincaid Park

Top 10

Men's 20-K -- 1) Mads Stroem, CU, 50:20.2; 2) Rune Malo Oedegaard (CU) 50:20.5; 3) Aku Nikander (UNM) 50:22.9; 4) Niklas Persson (UU) 50:30.6; 5) Dag Frode Trolleboe (DU) 50:31.6; 6) Moritz Madlener (DU) 50:34.0; 7) Clement Molliet UAA), 50:34.5; 8) Christian Otto (UNM) 50:56.8; 9) Mats Resaland (UNM) 51:04.0; 10) Kevin Bolger (UU) 51:06.7.

Other UAA finishers -- 13) Etienne Richard, UAA, 52:16.6; 17) Alex Mahoney, UAA, 53:01.8; 19) Mario Roncador, UAA, 53:35.7; 20) John Farr, UAA, 53:45.8; 26) Andrew Arnold, UAA, 55:44.0; 28) Brandon Brewster, UAA, 56:56.9; 32) Davis Dunlap, UAA, 59:02.1.

Other Alaska finishers -- 16) Forrest Mahlen (MSU) 53:01.0;

Women's 15-K --1) Emilie Cedervaern (UNM) 42:35.3; 2) Veronika Mayerhoffer (UU) 42:59.0; 3) Manon Locatelli (UAA) 43:10.8; 4) Petra Hyncicova (CU) 43:14.6; 5) Josefin Nilsson (UU) 43:22.1; 6) Eva Severrus (UNM) 43:22.6; 7) Sloan Storey (UU) 43:31.1; 8) Kathrin Schratt (UAA) 44:39.8; 9) Anna-Lena Heynen (UU) 44:47.1; 10) Maja Solbakken (CU) 45:07.2.

Other UAA finishers --18) Patricia Sprecher 47:10.3; 20) Hanna Slotte, UAA, 48:21.1; 21) Silje Dahl Benum, DU, 48:23.9; 22) Isabella Smith, MSU, 49:50.4; 23) Camilla Brautaset, CU, 51:08.6.

Other Alaska finishers -- 17) Annie Liotta (MSU) 46:52.9.

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Slalom races

Alyeska Ski Resort

Top 10

Women -- 1) Jessica Honkonen (CU) 1:25.93; 2) Mateja Robnik (UNM) 1:26.77; 3) Monica Huebner (DU) 1:27.22; 4) Devin Delaney (DU) 1:27.78; 5) Thea Grosvold (CU) 1:28.06; 6) Brooke Wales (CU) 1:28.37; 7) Sara Ottosson (UNM) 1:29.03; 8) Shane McClean (CU) 1:29.20; 9) Benedicte Lyche (MSU) 1:29.27; 10) Tianda Carroll (DU) 1:29.33.

UAA finishers -- 16) Marion Hudry 1:31.62; 19) Isabella Andreini 1:32.24; 20) Charley Field 1:32.69; 23) Vanessa Berther 1:34.66; 24) Audrey Hume 1:35.43; 26) Anna Berecz 1:35.91; 27) Miranda Sheely 1:37.18.

Men -- 1) Garret Driller (MSU) 1:21.77; 2) Endre Bjertness (UU) 1:21.95; 3) Sebastian Brigovic (DU) 1:22.31; 4) Adam Zika (CU) 1:22.45; 5) Trevor Philip (DU) 1:22.66; 6) Kasper Hietanen (CU) 1:22.94; 7) Alex Leever (DU) 1:23.06; 8) Sean Alexander (UAA) 1:23.10; 9) Max Marno (DU) 1:23.32; 10) Joergen Brath (UU) 1:23.39.

Other UAA finishers -- 12) Hughston Norton 1:24.11; 13) Martins Onskulis 1:24.25; 21) Conor McDonald 1:27.29; 25) James Schindler 1:36.53.

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