Classic 20K results ... Team scores (day 3)

Senior Bjorn Bakken (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) continued his historic trip into the College's first foray at the NCAA Championships with Friday morning's 20-kilometer mass start Classic race in Bozeman, Montana.

Following up on his lights-out 15th place performance in Wednesday's 10K Freestyle race would be difficult as Freestyle is by far his better discipline, but Bakken closed out his trip with another smartly raced event, starting in the back of the pack before moving up to his final finishing spot, 30th.

Gliding along smoothly in the early going Bakken was 15-20 seconds off the back of the main group at the end of the first 5K lap.

Skiing his own race, he began moving up past skiers when the pack blew up. By the 10K mark he was 31st, then was up to 29th at the 15K mark.

Jostling between 28th and 30th over the final lap Bakken battled a pair of Middlebury skiers who ultimately snuck in seven and five seconds ahead of his finishing time of 1 hour, 8 minutes and 2 seconds.

His total of 35 points from the two Nordic skiing events -- with the championship determined by the addition of two Alpine events to the Nordic race points -- put St. Scholastica in 19th place at the national championship.

Besides the Saints, teams from the Central Collegiate Ski Association fared well at the championships through three days of competition. In addition to St. Scholastica's 19th place, Northern Michigan sits in eighth, Alaska-Fairbanks is ninth, Michigan Tech is 17th with Gustavus Adolphus right behind in 18th, and Wis.-Green Bay is 20th.