FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The University of Denver ski team had five student-athletes reach the final on Sunday in Nordic classic sprints and the Pioneers have the lead after the first day of the Alaska Fairbanks Invitational.
Denver finished first and second in the men's sprint race at the UAF campus' competition trails, with senior
Andreas Kirkeng take the win and graduate student
Florian Knopf placing second
The Pioneers had three women in the final with freshman
Eve-Ondine Duchaufour coming in fourth, graduate student
Lea Wenaas in fifth and rookie
Anna Stewart in sixth. Duchaufour was second-fastest in qualifying, won her quarterfinal heat and was second in her semifinal round to pick up her third top-five of the season
DU garnered 182 points on Day 1 of the two-day Nordic-only meet with 182 points and has a 28-point edge on second-place Utah and is 39 points up on third-place Alaska Anchorage.
For Kirkeng, he picked up his 17th career win and fifth of the season. Knopf was runner-up for the eighth time and grabbed the 10th of podium of his time at Denver. UAA's Erling Bjoernstad was third.
Senior
Elijah Weenig was the Pioneers' third men's scorer in 16th and sophomore
Krystof Zatloukal was right behind in 17th, as DU had four men advance out of qualifying. Freshman
Landon Wyatt was 30th, junior
Micah Steinberg was 32nd and freshman
Joe Graziadei was 35th.
DU also had four women make it out of the morning qualifiers as sophomore
Maja Moland was 17th, while senior
Sidney Barbier finished 31st.
The women's podium featured Utah's Erica Laven in first and Celine Mayer in third, while Montana State's Anna Pryce was between the two Utes in second place. Duchaufour was 2.44 seconds off the podium.
Weather on Sunday was chilly but bearable with a sunny day in Alaska's interior. Temperatures were in the single digits Fahrenheit when qualifying began at 11 a.m. local time but climbed into the teens by the time quarterfinals started.
UP NEXT: Denver skiing has a busy week in Alaska, which continues on Monday with the completion of the UAF Invitational with the Nordic 10K freestyle interval start. Alpine wraps up the Alaska Anchorage Invite on Wednesday and Friday, while the RMISA Championships being in Anchorage with alpine on Thursday and Nordic on Friday.
DENVER WOMEN CLASSIC SPRINTS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4.
Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, 3:15.47 QFT, 3:20.73 QF, 3:16.99 SF, 3:16.42 F
5.
Lea Wenaas, 3:22.18 QFT, 3:20.83 QF, 3:17.12 SF, 3:21.70 F
6.
Anna Stewart, 3:22.34 QFT, 1:19.66 QF, 3:15.83 SF, 3:25.26 F
17.
Maja Moland, 3:28.69 QFT, 3:24.97 QF
31.
Sidney Barbier, 3:55.96 QFT
DNR:
Selma Andersen
DENVER MEN CLASSIC SPRINTS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1.
Andreas Kirkeng, 2:45:81 QFT, 2:47.32 QF, 2:45.71 SF, 2:42.28 F
2.
Florian Knopf, 2:42.85 QFT, 2:46.03 QF, 2:43.36 SF, 2:42.88 F
16.
Elijah Weenig, 2:53.82 QFT, 2:50.70 QF
17.
Krystof Zatloukal, 2:53.97 QFT, 2:51.24 QF
30.
Landon Wyatt, 3:00.62 QFT
32.
Micah Steinberg, 3:01.92 QFT
35.
Joe Graziadei, 3:28.32 QFT
TEAM STANDINGS (through 2-of-4 events): 1. Denver 182; 2. Utah 154; 3. Alaska Anchorage 143; 4. Colorado 125; 5. Alaska Fairbanks 122; 6. Montana State 116
WOMEN'S CLASSIC SPRINTS TOP 10 (33 finishers): 1. Erica Laven, UU; 2. Anna Pryce, MSU; 3. Celine Mayer, UU;
4. Eve-Ondine Duchaufour, DU; 5. Lea Wenaas, DU; 6. Anna Stewart, DU; 7. Karolina Kaleta, CU; 8. Kendall Kramer, UAF; 9. Constance LaPointe, UAA; 10. Astrid Stav, UAA.
MEN'S CLASSIC SPRINTS TOP 10 (35 finishers): 1. Andreas Kirkeng, DU; 2. Florian Knopf, DU; 3. Erling Bjoernstad, UAA; 4. Cole Flowers, UAF; 5. Zachary Jayne, UU; 6. Eemil Juntunen, CU; 7. Peter Hinds UAA; 8. Brian Bushey, UU; 9. Garrett Siever, UAA; 10. Trey Jones, CU.
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