Aku Nikander

Freshman (2014): Turned in a terrific freshman season with an All-American performance in the NCAA Classical … had nine top-10 finishes and 11 top-20 finishes, including top-10s in five of six freestyle races … was a Second Team All-America in the classical, and was Second Team All-RMISA in Nordic … picked up a win in his first meet, winning the 30K freestyle at the Pat Miller Invitational … also finished eighth in the 15K classical in Utah … finished sixth in the 10K freestyle and 11th in the 10K classical at the Montana State Invitational … had a pair of top-10s in Colorado, with eighth place finishes in both the 10K classical and 20K freestyle … followed with two more top-10s, finishing 10th in the 10K classical and eighth in the 10K freestyle at the Jade Enterprises/New Mexico Invitational … finished 10th in the freestyle at the RMISA/NCAA West Championships … earned Second Team All-America status with a ninth place finish in the 10K classical at the NCAA Championships … finished 25th in the freestyle at NCAAs … outside of NCAA competition, Aku won the U.S. Open Championships in the 50K freestyle in Alaska.

Prior to UNM: Graduated from Lohja High School in Finland in 2009…attended the University of Jyvaskyla for two years…raced for Vihdin Viesti…placed ninth in the 50K classic at the 2012 Finnish Championships …placed fourth in the 10K classic at the U23 Finnish Championships in 2012 … placed fourth in the 15K classic at the U23 Finnish Championships in 2013…finished 16th in the 20K mass start free at the 2013 Scandinavian Cup.

Personal: Born October 3, in Somero, Finland to Marja-Leena and Antero Nikander…has three siblings, Markus, Saara, and Heini…chose UNM because he felt it was time to take the next step as a skier…hobbies include other sports like tennis, long distance running and orienteering.