Photo by Ray Sabo/UAF Ski Team
Nanook skier Vahur Teppan, right, joins U.S. Ski Team members Torin Koos (2) and Andy Newell (1) on the podium for the men’s classic sprints at the U.S. Ski Championships in early January. Vahur took third in the national race, but was ineligible for the medal or prize money.

Photo courtesy UAF Athletics
Senior Marius Korthauer competed in last year’s NCAA championships in Jackson, N.H. He took the bronze in both the 20K classic and the 10K freestyle. Photo courtesy UAF Athletics
Aurelia Korthauer competes in the NCAA championships last year in Jackson, N.H. She earned All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in the 15K classic. Photo Kortnie Westfall / Sun Star
Junior Anna Coulter heads uphill at ski practice last Thursday. The temperatures last week varied from 5 to 25 below.

Racing the best of the best

In the world of collegiate sports, athletes compete against the finest athletes in schools around the nation. For Alaska’s skiers, and other skiers in the Central Collegiate Ski Association, only part of that statement is true.

“Skiing is kind of unique because we compete in some events that double as college meets and points races for the United States Ski Association,” said ski coach Scott Jerome, “I’m not sure there’s too many other sports that have something similar.”

Over the winter break, the Nanooks participated in the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships, in Houghton, Mich. Skiers from the U.S. ski team, as well as others who would be considered professional.

Such a high-level competitive field changes the dynamics of the sport at the collegiate level, Jerome said.

“I think a lot of our skiers on this team have aspirations above and beyond college skiing.” He mentioned Alaska skiers who have already represented their countries, and who aspire to represent the U.S. or Canada in the future. “I think it does add to when we’re able to see better competition; it really adds to their motivation and really helps them.”

Senior Marius Korthauer likes that high level of competition that professional and national skiers bring. “That’s very cool, that’s what I like about our region, that we get to ski against professionals. It’s very cool to see where you’re at.”

Anna Coulter likes the community aspect of an expanded competition field. “The fun thing about cross-country skiing is that it’s such a humble sport and we’re out there competing against the best people in the nation or sometimes the best people in the world,” she said, “and then when you can compare yourself and you can see yourself, how far back you are from them. It’s really nice that you can just go up and talk to them like they’re your friends or your competitors, but at the same time they’re Olympic-caliber.”

In races like the U.S. Ski Championships, and the SuperTour, a skier’s finish is recorded overall, but for collegiate standings, skiers are compared to only the other collegiate skiers in the race.

On their way up

Even in the overall standings, the Nanooks took their skiing to serious heights this season.

Senior Vahur Teppan took third in the men’s sprint at the U.S. Ski championships. He took to the podium with the likes of Torin Koos and Andy Newell, both members of the U.S. ski team’s “A” squad. Unfortunately, because he is from Estonia and a collegian, Teppan didn’t get the same perks as the U.S. ski team members could:

“I didn’t get a medal because I am not American,” he said, and added with a laugh “just stand on the podium and take a couple pictures; I couldn’t even accept the prize money because of NCAA rules.”

Fellow senior Marius Korthauer, who is nearly undefeated in the CCSA, took fifth place in the freestyle 10-K and sixth in the 15-K classic at the championships. Korthauer and Teppan also took fourth overall in the men’s team relay.

Despite the high showings in races against the nation’s best, the Nanooks are still not No. 1 in their conference; that honor goes to Northern Michigan University.

“We’ve been second to Northern Michigan in just about everything this year,” Jerome said, “Northern’s our big competitor. They’re our rival in our conference, and they’re just really good. … We have a good rivalry, and we’re always trying to beat them.”

Currently, in CCSA standings, NMU is first for men and women, and the Nanooks are just behind. Marius Korthauer is the No. 1 skier by far, with a more than 20-point lead over NMU’s Martin Banerud. His berth at nationals is a near-shoe-in.

“Nobody can kick me out unless I get sick,” he said last week.

When asked about how he does so well, he said, “Train the whole summer, and don’t get sick and have good skiing and it’s up to you.”

Korthauer did have a close call at the Marquette stage of the Telemark Super Tour. “One race was actually pretty close, I was 8 seconds behind with like 5 minutes to go and I had to hammer it.” In that race, he beat Northern Michigan’s Phil Violett by just 1.1 seconds.

Teppan is also high in the standings, at fourth place, and Ray Sabo and John Parry are “on the bubble,” in Jerome’s terms. The top 10 men in the conference go to nationals, and each team can only take three skiers. Sabo and Parry are ranked 12 and 13, respectively, with Sabo just one-tenth of a point behind the last qualifying skier (NMU has four skiers in the top ten, so their fourth skier doesn’t count as part of the 10 that qualify).

On the women’s side, Jerome’s star skiers are junior Aurelia Korthauer, sophomore Anna Coulter and junior Elisabeth Habermann. The three are ranked fourth, fifth and sixth in the conference, in a seemingly secure spot to head to nationals to represent the Nanooks. “There’s no guarantee (that they will make Nationals) at this point until after regionals, but it would be really extraordinary if we didn’t have those three going,” said Jerome.

The Central regional championships will be held in Biwabik, Minn. Feb. 16 and 17, where the Nanooks’ qualification for the NCAA Championships will be determined.

Korthauer and Coulter were named to the All-CCSA first-team, and Habermann earned second-team honors. Korthauer found top-ten finishes in five straight races in the Telemark SuperTour, and Coulter and Habermann each had two top-ten finishes there.

When asked about her races, Korthauer said that she does better in classic races, but her skate racing could use some work: “I’m not that good in the skate races; I think Anna is a better skater.”

Korthauer and Coulter do switch between being top skier depending on the type of race. Coulter agreed that the skate is her best form. “When I was a kid, skating was the more exciting thing to do because it’s a faster technique,” she said, “So I grew up skating more than classic-ing, so now I’m kind of seeing the repercussions of skating all the time as a child and not classic skiing.”

Olympic dreams

While competing with the top skiers in the nation, some Nanooks have aspirations, and experience, of competing with top skiers in the world. Teppan missed portions of the SuperTour because he was competing in the World Cup in Alberta, representing his native Estonia.

He placed 19th in the classic sprint there, just two places behind Andy Newell, and seven places in front of Torin Koos, who were first and second in the U.S. championship sprints with him.

Teppan said he would like to pursue an Olympic spot eventually. He graduated from Tartu University in Estonia before coming to the Nanooks, so when his athletic eligibility runs out this year, he plans to return to Estonia.

“I really want to ski further and maybe take a couple of classes back in my University, I still don’t know, but mostly I would like to concentrate on skiing.”

Habermann also has international experience, as she was a part of the U.S. Ski Team for the world junior championships last year in Italy.

Many Nanooks have aspirations to eventually ski at the international level, but they still have a lot of time. “I think the prime age for a female in the Olympics is 28 and I’m only 21,” said Coulter, “It’s a possibility, but I think there’s a lot of time before you have to dedicate your whole life to skiing, or before you have to decide.”

Jerome agreed. While he predicts that Teppan has the greatest chance as is for making it to the next level, he recognizes the reality of Olympic skiing.

“We have a young team, and most Olympic skiers are in their late 20s. Canada has the games in 2010 and then 2014 will be the next round, and even in 2014, the skiers that are here now will be relatively young.”