The UAA ski team shined on a sunny Wednesday at Kincaid Park, landing one man and two women in the top five of the Seawolf Invitational's classic-technique cross-country race.
UAA junior Clement Molliet grabbed fourth place in the men's 7.5-kilometer classic race and Manon Locatelli and Kathrin Schratt? delivered a 4-5 finish for the Seawolves in the women's 5-K classic.
The race, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was held despite marginal trail conditions that forced the first nordic race of the meet -- Monday's freestyle race -- to be held on the Hillside Ski Trails.
In Girdwood on Wednesday, alpine skiers took advantage of excellent conditions to hold two races at Alyeska Ski Resort -- the Seawolf Invitational slalom and an FIS slalom. The FIS slalom had been scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed due to sloppy slopes.
Sean Alexander led the UAA alpine team with a 10th-place finish in the men's slalom.
The Seawolf Invitational, UAA's first big home meet since the 2012 season, wraps up Thursday with a giant slalom at Alyeska.
Through three out of four events, the Utah Utes lead the team standings with 466.5 points. UAA is in fifth place with 369, nine points out of fourth place.
Wednesday's winners came from four different schools.
At Kincaid, victories went to Colorado's Mads Stroem and New Mexico's Emilie Cedervaern, who completed a sweep of the meet's cross-country titles -- she also won Monday's freestyle race.
At Alyeska, the winners were Anna Goodman of Westminster College in the women's race and Epsen Lysdahl of Denver in the men's race. Pacing the UAA women was Marion Hudry, who placed 16th.
Because conditions were so good at Alyeska, a second slalom race was held Wednesday. It counted as an FIS race but not as a Seawolf Invitational race. In that competition, Montana State's Garret Driller topped the men and Westminister College's AnnKathrin Breuning paced the women.
Alexander was again the top finisher for UAA, placing fifth.
College skiers will remain in Anchorage through the weekend for the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association championships. Those NCAA races will happen Friday and Saturday.
Race organizers said Wednesday that conditions at Kincaid, which in places offers a mere ribbon of snow amid a whole lot of brown grass, are good enough to accommodate RMISA races on Friday and Saturday. Originally, Friday's races were slated for the Hillside.
Seawolf Invitational
Team scores (through 3 of 4 events)
1) Utah 466.5, 2) Colorado 438.5, 3) New Mexico 430, 4) Denver 378, 5) UAA 369, 6) Montana State 341, 7) Westminster College 121, 8) Colorado Mountain College 22.
Wednesday's races
Kincaid Park
Men's 7.5-K classic
Top 10
1) Mads Stroem (CU) 20:22.2; 2) Rune Malo Oedegaard (CU) 20:33.5; 3) Niklas Persson (UU) 20:57.4; 4) Clement Molliet (UAA) 20:59.5; 5) Noé Bellet (UU) 21:10.7; 6) Mats Resaland (UNM) 21:17.7; 7) Moritz Madlener (DU) 21:20.7; 8) Forrest Mahlen (MSU) 21:27.2; 9) Aku Nikander (UNM) 21:29.8; 10) tie, Erik Axelsson (MSU) and Martin Muan (MSU) 21:38.1.
Other UAA finishers — 15) Alex Mahoney 21:45.6; 18) Mario Roncador 21:46.7; 28) John Farr 23:10.6; 35) Andrew Arnold 23:58.7; 36) Davis Dunlap 24:00.0; 37) Brandon Brewster 24:05.7.
Other Alaska finishers — 20) Peter Kling (APU) 22:16.3; 26) Jack Novak (APU) 23:08.9; 29) Andre Lovett (APU) 23:14.3; 30) Alex Loan (APU) 23:20.9; 31) David McPhetres (UAF) 23:35.0; 32) Fischer Gangemi (APU) 23:42.9; 38) Skyler Kenna (APU) 24:14.4; 40) Abe Meyerhofer (APU) 24:44.2.
Women's 5-K classic
Top 10
1) Emilie Cedervaern (UNM) 15:50.0; 2) Veronika Mayerhoffer (Utah) 15:57.8; 3) Sloan Storey (Utah) 16:01.9; 4) Manon Locatelli (UAA) 16:06.1; 5) Kathrin Schratt (UAA) 16:31.3; 6) Anna-Lena Heynen (UU) 16:32.3; 7) Eva Severrus (UNM) 16:32.5; 8) Josefin Nilsson (UU) 16:33.8; 9) Petra Hyncicova (CU) 16:40.8; 10) Lauren Fritz (APU) 16:44.6.
Other UAA skiers — 15) Mackenzie Kanady 16:59.3; 20) Patricia Sprecher 17:14.6; 22) Hanna Slotte 17:31.3.
Other Alaska skiers — 14) Sarah Cresap (APU) 16:57.9; 16) Annie Liotta (MSU 16:59.6; 28) Kinsey Loan (APU) 18:22.5; 29) Jade Hajdukovich (APU) 20:40.2.
Alyeska Ski Resort
Women's slalom
Top 10
1) Anna Goodman (WMC) 1:41.7; 2) Kristine Gjelsten Haugen (DU) 1:42.0; 3) Monica Huebner (DU) 1:42.0; 4) Sydney Staples (UNM) 1:43.1; 5) Thea Grosvold (CU) 1:43.6; 6) Ana Kobal (UU) 1:44.3; 7) Sara Ottosson (UNM) 1:44.7; 8) Devin Delaney (DU) 1:45.1; 9) Tianda Carroll (DU) 1:45.5; 10) Tonje Sekse (WMC) 1:46.0.
UAA finishers — 16) Marion Hudry 1:49.2; 18) Audrey Hume 1:50.0; 20) Isabella Andreini 1:50.6 13; 23) Anna Berecz 1:53.9; 25) Miranda Sheely 1:56.3; 31) Silken Rauhala 2:15.1.
Men's slalom
Top 10
1) Espen Lysdahl (DU) 1:35.9; 2) Tim Lindgren (WMC) 1:36.4; 3) Taylor Shiffrin (DU) 1:36.5; 4) Sebastian Brigovic (DU) 1:36.6; 5) Garret Driller (MSU) 1:37.0; 6) David Neuhauser (MSU) 1:37.2; 7) Joergen Brath (UU) 1:38.3; 8) Adam Zika (CU) 1:38.3; 9) Juho-Pekka Penttinen (UNM) 1:38.6; 10) Sean Alexander (UAA) 1:38.7.
Other UAA finishers — 13) Martins Onskulis 1:39.3; 17) Curtis McKillop 1:41.0; 18) Conor McDonald 1:41.1; 21) Hughston Norton 1:43.5; 26) James Schindler 2:04.3.
FIS women's slalom
Top 10
1) AnnKathrin Breuning (WMC) 1:48.78; 2) Mateja Robnik (UNM) 1:48.84; 3) Kari Bergheim (MSU) 1:49.16; 4) Sofija Novoselic (WMC) 1:49.22; 5) Brooke Wales (CU) 1:49.98; 6) Jessica Honkonen (CU) 1:50.02; 7) Tianda Carroll (DU) 1:50.25; 8) Chloe Fausa (UU) 1:50.79; 9) Teagen Palmer (UU) 1:52.79; 10) Shane McLean (CU) 1:53.20.
UAA finishers -- 14) Anna Berecz 1:01.69; 15) Mariom Hudry 1:55.13; 17) Isabella Andreini 1:57.49; 18) Charley Field 1:57.95; 19) Audrey Hume 1:02.53; 20) Silken Rauhala 1:01.88; 22) Miranda Sheely 1:04.17.
Alaska finishers -- 24) Amanda Lundgren 2:13.09; 25) Madilyn Short 1:07.01.
FIS men's slalom
Top 10
1) Garret Driller (MSU) 1:43.34; 2) Giulio Bosca (WMC) 1:43.40; 3) Henrik Gunnarsson (CU) 1:43.49; 4) Trevor Philp (DU) 1:44.05; 5) Sean Alexander (UAA) 1:44.06; 6) Alex Leever (DU) 1:44.56; 7) Endre Bjertness (UU) 1:44.74; 8) David Herzog (WMC) 1:44.89; 9) Cedrik Gagnon (UAA) 1:45.51; 10) Roger Carry (CU) 1:45.83.
Other UAA finishers -- 11) Curtis McKillop 1:45.92; 14) James Schindler 1:52.61.
Alaska finishers -- 15) Adam Garrigus 1:59.62; 16) Ross Johnson 2:06.65; 17) Zachary Burris 2:09.64; 18) William Ingrim 2:18.54; 19) Jim Henderson 2:19.12; 20) Riley Howard 2:26.69.