Complete Results
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The St. Scholastica men's ski team battle back to win second straight Minnesota Collegiate Championship on Sunday.
On paper, the Saints men looked to be in a position to easily walk away with the title, fielding perhaps three of the best skiers in the race in senior #Tyler Kjorstad# (Sr.-Duluth, Minn./Marshall), sophomore #Waylon Manske# (So.-Bemidji, Minn.), and senior #Jason Kask# (Sr.-Duluth, Minn./East). While Kask and sophomore #Stefan Hupperts# (So.-North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View) set the early pace for the entire field, they were quickly challenged and found themselves with significant gaps to leaders St. Olaf and St. Johns, at the first exchange.
Strong performances in the second leg by Kjorstad and Manske put the Saints back in contention, while both Kask and Hupperts responded in their freestyle legs for the Saints to hang on to their second straight Minnesota Collegiate Championship title by two points over host, St. Johns. The two scoring teams finished in 3rd (Kask/Manske) and 5th (Hupperts/Kjorstad).
"I felt very good as our guys took the lead heading out of the stadium, controlling the pace, but I don't know if I've ever been so shocked in this job as when they came out of the woods with a half a kilometer to go, and our top two guys not only weren't leading, but they were a ways behind," said Salmela. "The cold weather the last week and the week before that in Alaska, I think, has really made it tough for us to keep our top skiers training the way we want to--shortening a workout here or dropping a workout there because it's too cold--and it showed a little today. We just got into a position where we had to bite the bullet and get back into a race that maybe should have been an easier task to win. That's a good gut check at this time in the season--to see if you're a competitor even when you're down and not at your best. I'm really proud of how all the guys responded when things looked grim."
St. John's freshmen Grant Cook and Bob Gerten skied impressively to take the win for the host team in a time of 1:08:31. In the race for the team title, St. Johns bettered St. Olaf in a tie breaker for second and third respectively behind the Saints.
MEN'S 2 x 5km x 5km RELAY
1. St. Johns A (Grant Cook/Bob Gerten) 1:08;31
2. St. Olaf A (Tom Jorgenson/Brandon Piechowski) 1:08:48
3. St. Scholastica B (Jason Kask (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS)/Waylon Manske (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji HS)) 1:09:21
5. St. Scholastica A (Stefan Hupperts (North Oaks, Minn./Mounds View HS)/Tyler Kjorstad (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School)) 1:10:41
9. St. Scholastica C (Matt Nistler (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji HS)/Kirk Leach (Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins HS)) 1:13:09
16. St. Scholastica D (Eric Boyles (Anoka, Minn./Anoka HS)/Tony Bye (Chippewa Falls, Minn./McDonell HS)) 1:18:56
18. St. Scholastica E (Jim Linn/Joe Wacker (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park HS)) 1:23:17
Championship Team Scores
1. St. Scholastica 14
2. St. Johns 12
3. St. Olaf 12
4. Gustavus Adolphus 11
5. University of Wisconsin Green-Bay 5
