Rosie Brennan

From Norway to Minnesota to Anchorage, the Rosies, the Nanooks and the Cougars glided to big weekends on Nordic skis.

On the World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway, Rosie Brennan of Alaska Pacific University by earned her first podium of the season, a third place in the 10-kilometer freestyle. Brennan displayed her versatility by also placing fifth in the freestyle sprint and helping the United States take fourth (along with APU teammate Hailey Swirbul) in the 4X5K relay.

Brennan clinched a spot for the 2022 Winter Olympics and now ranks fourth in the overall World Cup after two full weekends, no small feat given that a full complement of Norwegian and Swedish women have returned to the World Cup.

“I am thrilled to find myself on the podium and feel really good about my fitness,” Brennan emailed after Saturday’s freestyle race. “It was great to have spectators out there today too! I forgot how fun it is to have fans!”

Hannan Halvorsen of APU continued to improve, sprinting to 28th place after qualifying with the 21st fastest time.

JC Schoonmaker of the University of Alaska Anchorage also impressed, reaching his second straight semifinal and placing 11th overall.

“I would’ve liked to have squeaked into that final (six racers), but was just missing a little bit of steam in that last 100 meters,” said Schoonmaker, who will compete next in Davos, Switzerland.

With a dearth of snow and warm temperatures until late November, the races were modified with shortened distances — Saturday’s schedule originally called for skiathlon events of 30K for men and 20K for women — and a new, multi-lap course on Lillehammer’s biathlon trails.

Gus Schumacher

In the men’s 15K individual start freestyle, Gus Schumacher (Alaska Winter Stars/Service) recorded the best U.S. men’s result of 38th while World Cup rookie Zanden McMullen (South) placed 48th.

Scott Patterson of Anchorage (South) struggled in his season debut, placing 70th while racing with a brace on his right wrist after surgery just five weeks ago.

“I knew coming into today that I was a bit underprepared for racing,” Patterson emailed. “In prioritizing my wrist recovery, I have not done any time trials and was even limited in intervals recently by a cold I caught in the weeks before travel. Overall, I feel that my fitness is pretty good, but I need a little time to find race form and figure out how to manage my wrist recovery while minimizing limitations.”

Patterson did not take part in Sunday’s relays, but Alaskans were well represented. The young squad of Luke Jager (West HS), Ben Ogden (Vermont), Schumacher and McMullen raced to ninth place just 1:02 off the winners from Norway.

A second U.S. men’s squad that included Alaskans Hunter Wonders, David Norris and JC Schoonmaker took 15th.

Super Tour starts in Minnesota

Tyler Kornfield

Alaskans also represented in Duluth, Minn., at the kick-off to the SuperTour, the premier U.S. domestic racing series. In Saturday’s freestyle sprint, Tyler Kornfield (APU/Service) posted the fastest qualifying time and backed that up by narrowly winning the finals over a University of Utah skier. Kornfield, a 2018 Olympian, hopes strong results in the SuperTour may enable a return to the Winter Games.

APU teammates Thomas O’Harra and Forrest Mahlen placed seventh and 10th, respectively.

Becca Rorabaugh (APU/West Valley) won the women’s sprint while Rosie Frankowski (APU), known primarily for her distance skiing, took third.

Their results were reversed in Saturday’s 7.3K individual start freestyle, as Frankowski posted a 1.7 second victory and Rorabaugh took fourth.

In the men’s 13K, Kornfield recorded Alaska’s best result in ninth while Michael Earnhart (Chugiak) placed 14th and won the Under 20-year-old division.

Nanooks Top Seawolves

Kendall Kramer

Led by Kendall Kramer (West Valley), the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks reclaimed by Alaska Cup by outskiing the UAA Seawolves.

Kramer won Saturday’s 10K freestyle and placed second in Sunday’s 5K classic at Anchorage’s Hillside Trails.

That helped UAF claim the Cup for the first time since 2016-17 and increased their advantage in the all-time series to 10-6-1. The cumulative times from the top 3 for each team in the four races determined this year’s champion.

Pascal Paradise of UAA won the women’s 5K classic while Joe Davies of UAF took the men’s 15K freestyle and Mike Ophoff won the 10K classic.

Alaska Prep Season Underway

Service High School swept a series of 3K freestyle sprints at Kincaid Park that officially launched the Alaska prep season.

Meredith Schwartz of Service won the girls’ final to lead the Cougars to a 1 minute, 10-second win over West. In the boys’ final, Porter Blei of Chugiak was victorious while Aaron Power (second) and Justin Lucas (third) propelled Service to a 15-second win over West.

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