Skiers post best-ever 2nd at NCAA Regionals

The Alaska Anchorage ski team posted a program-best second-place finish at the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Championships / NCAA West Regional Championships on Saturday. The Seawolves registered six top-10 finishes in the final day, including two podium finishes for the record-breaking performance.

The Seawolves started the day in third place and remained in that position after the conclusion of the freestyle race with 562 points. Going into the slalom race - which was competed at night - UAA trailed second-place Denver by 541⁄2 points. The Seawolf Alpine team responded, posting an identical 101 points in both the men's and women's races, for third and second place, respectively.

UAA completed the championships with 764 points, while Colorado came away with a commanding 902-point victory. New Mexico was third with 725, Utah (705) was fourth and Denver (7001⁄2) was fifth.

Leading UAA on the slopes was sophomore Halfdan Falkum-Hansen, who skied to a third-place finish with a time of 1 minute, 15.15 seconds. Freshman Andreas Adde was in good position for a podium finish but crashed in the second run for a combined time of 1:17.51. Junior Ryan Wolosyn (1:43.06) rounded out the final score for UAA in 21st place at the Steamboat Ski Resort.

Representing the Seawolves on the women's side was sophomore All-American Alex Parker, who took fifth in the slalom with a time of 1:21.46. Following Parker was freshman Petra Gantnerova (1:21.55) in sixth, and freshman Kayla Fry (1:23.57) was 15th.

In the men's 20K freestyle event, the Seawolves skied to second place with 101 points, two points ahead of the Utes. The Golden Buffaloes (135) dominated the course, claiming first by placing all three scorers in the top four.

Preventing the podium sweep for CU was UAA's Michael Schallinger, who recorded his fifth top-5 finish of the season. Schallinger, a native of Vachendorf, Germany, completed the course at Howelsen Hill in a time of 54 minutes, 33.9 seconds.

After missing half of the season due to an iron deficiency, All-American brothers Lex Treinen (sophomore) and Max Treinen (junior) posted season-best finishes in the freestyle. Lex was 12th with a time of 55:35.6, while Max was 17th in 56:41.9.

On the women's side, sophomore Steffi Hiemer skied to a 10th-place finish in the 15K freestyle. Rombach led UAA (79 points) to sixth place with a time of 47:40.3. Classmates Laura Rombach (48:59.0) and Jaime Bronga (49:30.8) finished 14th and 18th, respectively.

Following the meet, the Seawolves qualified 11 of the possible 12 athletes to compete at the 2010 NCAA Skiing Championships that will be held at the same venues next weekend.