WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Moving up seven spots from her finish in Wednesday's freestyle race, Whitman's Devon Spika placed 19th in the women's 15-kilometer classic Friday morning at the NCAA National Ski Championships at the Jackson Cross Country Center in Jackson, N.H.
Spika, a first-year skier with dual U.S./Canadian citizenship, was timed in 51:51.1, finishing about 50 seconds out of the 16th spot.
"Devon gave another great effort against an outstanding field of skiers," Whitman nordic coach Nathan Alsobrook said. "She wasn't highly ranked in classic, so she had to start in the back of the pack. She paced herself well and moved up throughout the entire race -- every lap she passed a few more skiers. She made a great sprint in the last kilometer to try to catch a skier who was several seconds ahead of her. If the course had been 50 meters longer, she would have done it."
Alsobrook was pleased to Spika's season-long improvement in the classic continue through her final race. "Devon has been more successful in the freestyle this season, but her classic skiing has improved with every race. Today she proved she can ski with the best in classic as well as freestyle. It was great finish to what's been a great season for Devon."
As was the case Wednesday, skiers for NCAA Div. II Northern Michigan University swept the top three spots. Lindsey Meier, a senior from Mahtomedi, Minn., won the race in 47:21.0, beating senior teammate Lindsey Williams (Hastings, Minn.) by one second. Northern Michigan's Morgan Smyth, a senior from Vernon, Vt., was third in 48:11.4. In Wednesday's freestyle, it was Weier placing first, Williams second and Weier third.
Among the relatively few first-year skiers who qualified for the NCAA championships, Spika had the third-best time in Saturday's classic. Polina Ermoshina (Moscow, Russia), a first-year skier at NCAA Div. I University of New Mexico, placed sixth with a time of 49.27.2. Kristin Roennestrand (Stromsund, Sweden), a first-year skier at the University of Colorado, was 16th in 51.01.8.
"That Devon had the third-best time among the first-year skiers is significant," Alsobrook said. "Nordic skiing is a long-term proposition. Becoming a great Nordic skier takes years of training and racing. Devon's results are amazing for someone with much less training and experience under her belt than most of her competitors."
Spika, who was born in Atlanta, Ga., moved to Ottawa, Canada when she was 18 months old, and qualified for the Canadian junior national championships when she was 14. She and her family moved to Denmark during the summer of 2002, and she graduated from Copenhagen International School in 2005.
Temperatures were on the more frigid side Wednesday when Spika placed 26th in the women's 5-kilometer freestyle. She was clocked in 15:19.0, finishing less than 18 seconds out of the 16th spot and less one minute out of fourth place.
"Devon gave a great effort in the freestyle," Alsobrook said. "She skied as fast as she could, but she felt like she couldn't find that extra gear. That's not unusual when skiers come down to sea level after training and racing at a higher altitude, as we've been doing in the West.
"The pace of skiing is so much slower at altitude that it's a real challenge to pick up the tempo once you're back at sea level," Alsobrook added. "The additional oxygen is there, but the muscles aren't trained to ski with that kind of speed. I think Devon will find her stride in Friday's classic race now that she's had more time to adjust. It's also a longer race, and the tempo will be slower. We're looking forward to it."
The Eastern Seaboard's bitterly cold weather actually abated a bit for Wednesday's races, Alsobrook noted. "It didn't get much above zero Tuesday, and the wind was howling. Wednesday wasn't as bad. Still cold, but it was sunny with not much wind. It was probably 10 to 15 degrees during the race."
After graduating from Copenhagen International School in the spring of 2005, Spika spent the 2005-06 school year at Norway's Meraker Videregaende Skole, a "sports high school" where she focused on ski training while taking classes in Norwegian, math and exercise physiology. Her parents, both pediatricians, continue to live in Denmark, where her mother teaches at the University of Copenhagen and her father works for the World Health Organization.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information,
(509) 527-5902;
holden@whitman.edu