FAIRBANKS, AK-The University of Alaska Fairbanks men’s and women’s cross country teams will host the second annual Interior Invitational against the University of Alaska Anchorage, Saturday afternoon, September 3rd, on the Birch Hill trails in Fairbanks. Head coach Scott Jerome and his assistant Ingrid Olson, both in their second year of coaching, are excited for the opportunity to run against UAA in Fairbanks. “UAA’s a tough opponent,” said Jerome. “They made nationals last year so it will be a good measuring stick for us.” Due to some injuries, UAF will be running this weekend without two of the top five female, and two of the top male, runners. Johanna Turunen (Joensuu, Finland) is suffering from plantar fasciitis, while Virginia Parish (Fairbanks, AK) is ailed with Achilles tendonitis. Missing on the trails for the men’s team this weekend will be Marius Korthauer (Bonndorf, Germany), who has a stress fracture in his tibia, and Grant McGregor (Chugiak, AK) who has been fighting Bronchitis for the past week. “Unfortunately we have some injuries that will present additional challenges for our team, but the good news is that we have more depth this year. We expect a better showing then we had last year.” The rest of the women’s team includes senior Pavla Havlova (Jince, Czech Republic), who shattered the course record during the team’s Ester Dome time trial last Saturday, freshmen Julia and Anna Coulter (both of Traverse City, MI), who ran for the second best high school cross country team in Michigan, and junior Krynn Finstad (Fairbanks, AK), who already cut two minutes off her personal record this year. The coaches are excited to see who will step up to help the team. Freshman Elisabeth Habermann (Soldotna, AK) and sophomore Tamara Kornfield (Anchorage, AK) are also expected to battle and push the rest of the team. For the men’s team, walk-on senior Harald Aas (Eidsvoll, Norway) is set to pace the Nanooks. He took the top spot in the Ester Dome time trial, which was in the top 15 of the course. Senior Erik Wickstrom (Boras, Sweden) will also be a tough competitor for the ‘Nooks after training well all summer. Sophomore Chris Eversman (Salcha, AK), freshman Anders Gilis (Fairbanks, AK), junior Tyson Flaharty (Fairbanks, AK), senior Daniel Slakey (Elk Grove, CA), freshman Jesse Moe (Anchorage, AK), senior Jonas Tetlie (Kabelvaag, Norway), and junior Bart Dengel (Valdez, AK) will also add depth to the men’s team. Both teams will run the 5.25 kilometer Birch Hill course Saturday afternoon, with the women’s race beginning at 12:30 p.m. and the men’s at 1:15 p.m. -UAF CROSS COUNTRY-