Classic results ... 2-day combined team points (PDF documents)
The Saints were close last year in only their first year in existence.
Tyler Kjorstad (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) was 10th in the season-long points standings last year, while the Midwest region had only nine NCAA Championship berths.
This season, based on the strength of the region, the Midwest picked up a 10th bid into the March 5-8 NCAA Championships in Bozeman, Mont.
Heading into Sunday's 15-kilometer Classic, St. Scholastica's Bjorn Bakken (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) was in that 10th spot hotseat, but after he lit up the course Saturday in the Freestyle event the senior was skiing with confidence and a bit of a cushion. He just didn't need anything to go wrong, like the broken ski in a Classic race at one of the recent qualifying regionals.
This time he did what he needed to do, finishing 19th in a time of 47:52.0 and clinching a spot -- 9th overall in the Midwest -- as St. Scholastica's first skier to make it to the national championship.
Bakken ended up being in a battle for the final few spots with two of his teammates, Jason Kask (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) and ... Kjorstad.
In Sunday's Classic it was Kask that paced the pack of 'bubble' skiers in the qualification hunt. Kjorstad floated on and off the back of the pack, and Bakken skied safely alone 15-20 seconds behind the frenzied pack.
As the 15K race neared it's end the pack broke with the best late-race sprinters surging ahead. Four of the pack raced ahead of Kask who kept two more of the pack behind him. Kjorstad skied close behind still, and Bakken stayed clear of everyone.
In the end, Kask finished 14th with a time of 47:07.4 but only 3.5 seconds behind the 10th place finisher.
Kjorstad was 10 seconds behind Kask, finishing 18th, and Bakken skied in behind Kjorstad for 19th, effectively punching his ticket to nationals.
The heartbreak for Kjorstad, again, was that he finished the season 0.4 points behind the 10th place Midwest region skier. On the outside looking in, face pressed against the national window, this time perhaps as few as 5-8 seconds over the course of the long season away from his own ticket.
Stil, the trio's Classic points put them in 4th place -- a season best Classic finish -- on the day and their 4th place 2-day combined total of 118 points trailed Division-II Michigan Tech by a mere three points.
Northern Michigan captured the 2-day combined title with 161 points, Alaska-Fairbanks finishing in the runner-up spot with 155 points.
