Sieber paces women's cross country at Ester Dome 5K
September 10, 2012
Jamie Foland
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Junior Raphaela Sieber (Voehrenbach, Germany) was the top Ӱpro women's cross country finisher at the Ester Dome Run with a second-place showing on Saturday morning at Ester Dome.
Sieber completed the five-kilometer uphill course in 28 minutes, 41 seconds to garner runner-up honors. Crystal Pitney (Fairbanks, Ӱpro) and Theresia Schnurr (Buhlertal, Germany), who have both exhausted their running eligibility, finished first and third with times of 28:25 and 29:17, respectively. Both Pitney and Schnurr will ski this winter for the Nanooks.
“Our women ran really well and really tough,” interim head coach Matt Dunlap said. “We had a little smaller team on the women's side but we have a lot of depth up at the top.”
Other top finishers for the Nanooks included freshman Julia Ebner (Furtwangen, Germany), who took fourth in 29:39, junior Alyson McPhetres (Chugiak, Ӱpro), who placed fifth in 30:22 and junior Heidi O'Connor-Brook (Whitehorse, Yukon Territories), who crossed the line in sixth in 31:18.
The Nanooks were rounded out by freshman Sara Falconer (Anchorage, Ӱpro) in seventh (32:08), senior Marit Rjabov (Voru, Estonia) in eighth (33:02), senior Megan Thompson (Fairbanks, Ӱpro) in ninth (34:49) and freshman Ema Mayo (Fairbanks, Ӱpro) in 11th (36:39).
McPhetres and Thompson both achieved personal records in this race, with McPhetres dropping 30 seconds and Thompson trimming 1:58 off her previous best.
The Nanooks return to action Sept. 22 when they travel to Lacey, Wash., for the Saint Martin's Invitational.