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With a pair of speedy runs, two UAA skiers earned All-American honors in the slalom on Friday at the NCAA National Championships in Lake Placid, New York.
Ella Bromee finished fourth in the women’s slalom with a time of 1:50.75. The freshman raced the fifth-fastest first run and posted the seventh-fastest second run.
Junior Leon Nikic finished sixth overall among the men with a time of 1:50.72. Nikic, who won the giant slalom at the NCAA’s West Regionals two weeks ago, didn’t finish his second run in Wednesday’s giant slalom.
“Our kids battled today,” UAA head coach Sparky Anderson said in a statement from the school. “Ella and Leon both had outstanding performances resulting in their All-American finishes. It’s a huge achievement in this championship field of World Cup and Olympic athletes. They both absolutely crushed today.”
UAA finished 12th overall out of 22 teams at the NCAA Skiing National Championships.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks had a sensational week at the championships, highlighted by Joe Davies. A sophomore, Davies won the 10K freestyle race, the first Nanooks racer to ever win a freestyle national championship. Teammate Mike Ophoff finished in fifth and also earned All-American honors.
UAF scored 268 points, good for seventh place overall.
The UAF women also had a pair of All-American performances in the 5K freestyle race. Mariel Pulles finished sixth and Kendall Kramer was right behind in seventh.
“This is a moment that has been in the making for five years,” UAF head coach Eliska Albrigtsen said in a statement. “We’ve put in the hard work and we’ve seen our team rise to the top to be one of the best programs in the nation. Today’s results are hard proof.”
Ophoff, Davies and Pulles all finished in the top 10 in the 20K classic race on Saturday as well.