Rosie Fordham won the women’s 7.5-kilometer classic interval start race at the NCAA Championships on March 12, finishing more than a minute ahead of her closest competitor to claim her first national title.
Fordham’s victory helped the Alaska Nanooks secure fifth place in the classic event with a team total of 93.5 points. The men’s team finished seventh with 41.5 points, while the women placed fourth with 52 points.
“What can I say about today?” interim head coach Ben Buck said. “It’s a huge result for us, with our third individual national champion in four years.”
The day began with the men’s classic race, where Philipp Moosmayer led the Nanooks by finishing 11th in 19:14.2, just missing out on a top-10 and All-American placement by less than two seconds. Blake Hanley made his NCAA debut and finished 19th in 19:48.4, while Ben Dohlby tied for 21st after posting a time of 20:01.5.
Buck said, “The men’s race was a tight one with fast, icy conditions in the morning. Our guys raced well, with Philipp (Moosmayer), Blake (Hanley), and Ben (Dohlby) each just missing out on the top-10, top-15, and top-20, respectively. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do in the 20k freestyle on Saturday!”
In the women’s race, Fordham trailed Eve-Ondine Duchaufour from Denver University after the first lap but built up a significant lead by the halfway point and ultimately finished in 24:08.0—63 seconds ahead of second place—to give Alaska its second national champion in as many years. Viktorie Kahounova also competed for Alaska and finished her NCAA championship debut in 19th place with a time of 28:51.2.
Buck added, “Viky (Kahounova) was excellent in her NCAA debut, fighting through the warmest and slowest conditions at the tail end of the start list to secure a top-20 finish.” He continued about Fordham’s performance: “Rosie stole the show today, though, with an absolutely dominant performance, winning by over a minute against some very strong competition! She skied with poise and confidence and a determination that no other skier could match today. She said last spring that she wanted to win this race, and we’ve been working on her classic technique all year, so it’s very gratifying to see all her hard work pay off.”
The Nanooks will compete again Saturday in their final races of the season during the 20-kilometer freestyle mass start.
