Sigurd Roenning found himself in a familiar spot and the UAA ski team found itself in an exciting spot Wednesday at Hatcher Pass.
Roenning, a freshman from Norway, skied his way onto the podium for the second time this week and the fifth time in nine races this season to help lift the Seawolves into third place in the team standings at the NCAA Western Regional championships.
UAA had a great day on the Government Peak trails. Casey Wright, a senior who skied for Australia at last year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, posted her best result of the college season to lead five Seawolves into the top 20 of the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle. In the men’s 10K freestyle, Roenning and Toomas Kollo both notched top-10 finishes.
“(The) race of the day goes to Casey Wright who had her best race in quite some time,” UAA cross-country coach Andrew Kastning said in a press release from UAA.
Victories went to Erik Dengerud of Colorado, who topped the men in 26 minutes, 50 seconds, and Guro Jordheim of Utah, who paced the women in 15:05.
The race was part of a big week of college skiing in the Anchorage area. The Seawolves are hosting two meets — the UAA Invitational and the NCAA Western Regionals.
So far, only the nordic skiers have raced — they competed in UAA Invitational races Sunday and Monday at Kincaid Park, and kicked off the NCAA regionals with Wednesday’s race at Government Peak. Nordic skiers have their final race Friday at Kincaid.
Alpine skiers hit Alyeska on Thursday for the first of four straight days of slalom and giant slalom racing. Two of those races are part of the UAA Invitational; the other two are NCAA regional races.
One day into the four-day NCAA regionals, Utah has 170 points for a two-point lead over Colorado. In third place with 137 points are the Seawolves, who after this week won’t race again until the March 6-9 NCAA national championships in Vermont.
“Finishing third as a team is a great place to be as we head into NCAAs," Kastning said.
Posting top-20 results for UAA in the men’s race were third-place Roenning (27:19.6), eighth-place Kollo (27:46.5) and 18th-place JC Schoonmaker (28:35.9). Fairbanks brothers Max Donaldson of UAF (27:53.3) and Ti Donaldson of Montana State (28:07.1) placed ninth and 11th, respectively.
In the women’s race, Wright clocked 15:50.6. Michaela Keller-Miller (16:02.5), Anna Darnell (16:04.3) and Natalie Hynes (16:07.2) finished 12th, 13th and 14th, respectively, and Jenna DiFolco was 19th in 16:18.7.
More skiing this week
Thursday — Giant slalom, 10 a.m., Alyeska Resort
Friday — Giant slalom, 10 a.m., Alyeska Resort; mass-start classic races, 10 a.m., Kincaid Park
Saturday — Slalom, 10 a.m., Alyeska Resort
Sunday — Slalom, 10 a.m., Alyeska Resort