Women’s 5K Classical | Men’s 10K Classical
JACKSON, N.H. — Krista Niiranen was the highlight of the day for UNM skiing as the team struggled in the Nordic Classical, but Niiranen earned a seventh-place finish, picking up UNM’s third All-America honor of the championships. However, the Lobos slid from sixth place to eighth place in the overall standings after having just two skiers score out of six.
In the women’s race, only Niiranen scored, accounting for UNM’s 25 points in a race. She clocked in at 15:41.2 in the interval start race. In that type of race, each skier leaves the gate in 30 second intervals. Niiranen, wearing bib 30, was the top skier in a five-person pack that all finished within 3.3 seconds of each other. Niiranen’s All-America honor runs UNM’s streak of years with a women’s Nordic All-America to four straight years.
UNM’s other two racers were the injured Kati Roivas, who finished second in the classical last year but was 35th today, and Brenna Egan, who was 40th.
On the men’s side, Aljaž Praznik was UNM’s only scorer, coming in 21st place for 10 points. Petteri Vaherkoski originally finished 28th, but he was disqualified. UNM’s other finisher was Arnaud Guyon in 34th.
Overall, UNM is in eighth place with 109.5 points, 23.5 points ahead of ninth place New Hampshire and 10.5 points behind Northern Michigan.
The third day of the NCAA Championships continue Friday with the men’s and women’s slalom. The women’s slalom will begin with its first run at 7 a.m. Mountain Time and the second run at 10:30 a.m. Mountain Time. The men’s slalom will take place at 8 a.m. Mountain Time and 11:15 a.m. Mountain Time. The races can be live-streamed here, and the live timing is located here.
NOTES: UNM now has three All-America honors after getting just five last year … the Lobos have never finished outside of the top nine, and last finished eighth in 2012.