Kurtis Gosney/ Sun Star Reporter
Feb. 25, 2014
Hockey
The Alaska Nanook Men’s Hockey team travelled to Houghton, Mich. for their final two road games of the season against the Michigan Tech University Huskies last Friday and Saturday.
The Nanooks won Friday’s match up, 7-3, scoring four goals in the second period alone. Senior center and Business Administration student Cody Kunyk finished the game with two goals to lead the Nanooks. Other Nanook scorers were sophomore right wingman and Business Administration student Nolan Huysmans, junior left wingman and Communication student Garrick Perry, freshman left wingman and General studies student Josh Erickson, junior left wingman and Business Administration student Jared Larson and sophomore center and Business Administration student Tyler Morley. Junior goalie and Business Administration student Sean Cahill finished with 24 saves.
The Nanooks won Saturday’s game 7-2 after scoring the game’s first five goals. Senior left wingman Colton Beck led the scoring with two goals. Huysmans, Tyler and Brandon Morley,
Larson and Michael Quinn scored the other five goals for the Nanooks. The Nanooks scored two goals in the first period, three in the second and another two in the third. Cahill finished with 17 saves.
The Nanooks have two weeks to prepare for their next series, which will take place on Friday Feb. 28 and Saturday, Mar. 1 against the Ferris State Bulldogs. Both games will take place at the Carlson Center at 7 p.m. The Nanooks now have a record of 14-12-4 on the season and are in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings.
Men’s Basketball
The Alaska Nanook Men’s Basketball team played in its final two road games against the the Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders last Thursday and the Central Washington University Wildcats last Saturday.
It took the Nanooks three overtime periods to win Thursday’s game, 108-104. All five Nanook starters scored double-figures in the game. Senior guard and Communication student Ronnie Baker led the charge with 26 points. Senior forward and Justice student Andrew Kelly scored 25 points and yanked down 15 rebounds. Senior center Sergej Pucar had 22, junior guard Joe Slocum had 16, and senior forward Stefan Tica finished with 14.
After being down by 26 in the first half of Saturday’s game against the Wildcats, the Nanooks came back to win the game 85-76. The Wildcats started this game making 16 of their first 24 shots, or 66 percent. The Nanooks, however, started the game by making six out of 20 shots, amounting to 30 percent. The Nanooks were able to cut the lead to 12 at halftime, courtesy of a three-pointer from senior forward and Accounting student Mike Stepovich. Then the Nanooks took a 67-65 lead with seven minutes left in the game. Stepovich finished the game with a career-high 26 points.
The Nanooks will return to action this Thursday and Saturday at the Patty Center against the Western Oregon Wolves and Saint Martin’s Saints. Both games will start at 7:30 p.m. The Nanooks are now 15-8 overall and 10-5 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and currently sit in third place in the conference standings.
Women’s Basketball
The Alaska Nanook Women’s Basketball team played only one game away from Fairbanks last Saturday against the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.
The Nanooks lost the game, 88-68. Freshman guard and Business Administration student Victoria Milton finished with 15 points to lead the Nanooks. Junior guard and Communication student Benissa Bulaya finished with 13 points and freshman guard and Civil Engineering student Autumn Childers finished with 11.
The Nanooks will play in their final two home games of the season this Thursday and Saturday against Western Washington and Simon Fraser. Both game will start at 5:15 p.m at the Patty Center. The Nanooks are 9-12 this season with a 3-11 record in the GNAC conference.
Swimming
The Alaska Nanook Swim team traveled to La Mirada, Calif.
where they competed in the 2014 Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference Championships last Wednesday through
Saturday.
The Nanooks had a record-setting performance on Wednesday in the 200-yard medley relay event. The team of freshman Accounting student Victoria Adams, freshman Psychology student Nga Nguyen, junior Political Science student Margot Adams, and senior Psychology student Bente Heller won the race in one minute and 43.06 seconds, breaking a two-year old Nanook record. The previous record, set in 2011, was one minute and 45.08 seconds. The Nanooks finished Wednesday’s competition in third place with 172 points.
Five Nanook swimmers received spots on the all-conference team on Thursday, including Victoria Adams,
Heller, junior Foreign Language student Gabi Summers, freshman Business Administration student Kathryn Pound and Margot Adams.
On Friday, the Nanooks won three events and broke three school records. The Nanooks won the 400-yard medley relay in three minutes and 46.82 seconds, breaking the previous record by over four seconds. Margot Adams won the 100-yard individual butterfly championship in 54.62 seconds, breaking her own record by one hundredth of a second. Adams’ previous record was 54.63 seconds. Heller won the 100-yard backstroke title in 55.63 seconds. Nguyen broke the Nanook school record twice in the 100-yard breaststroke. The first time was during the morning preliminary race, when she finished in one minute and 4.63 seconds. The previous record, set in 2009, was set in one minute and 4.94 seconds. Nguyen re-broke the record later in the day finishing in one minute and 3.84 seconds, 0.79 seconds earlier than her morning race.
The Nanooks finished third overall in the PCSC championships, making it their best finish in school history in this event.
Victoria Adams grabbed one final victory for the Nanooks in the 200-yard backstroke.
Skiing
The Alaska Nanook Men’s and Women’s ski teams joined the hockey team in Houghton, Mich.
and competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association regional championships last Saturday and Sunday.
Men
The men’s team won Saturday’s 10-kilometer classic race, beating out Northern Michigan and five other teams with a score of 66. Junior Mechanical Engineering student Logan Hanneman finished in second place, only 1.9 seconds away from winning the individual title. Sophomore Business Administration student Michael Fehrenbach finished in third with senior Mechanical Engineering student Max Olex finishing in fourth.
The Nanooks finished in second place in Sunday’s 15-kilometer mass start race behind Northern Michigan. Two Nanook competitors finished in the top five, including Fehrenbach in fourth and Hanneman in fifth.
Women
The women’s team came in third place out of eight teams in their five-kilometer classic race on Saturday. Freshman Elementary Education student Nicole Bathe won the individual crown, finishing the race in 17 minutes and 14.4 seconds,
16 seconds faster than second-place finisher Rosie Frankowski from Northern Michigan. Junior Foreign Language and Geological Engineering student Alyson McPhetres finished in 12th place and sophomore Emergency Management student Kryston McPhetres finished in 13th.
The Nanooks finished in third place in Sunday’s 10-kilometer mass start race. Two skiers finished in the top 10, including Bathe in eighth place and Alyson McPhetres in 10th.