ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The St. Scholastica Nordic ski team represented by seniors #Jason Kask# (Sr.-Duluth, Minn./East), #Tyler Kjorstad# (Sr.-Duluth, Minn./Marshall), junior #Megan Holmes# (Jr.-Gilbert, Minn./Mesabi East), and sophomore #Waylon Manske# (So.-Bemidji, Minn.) had their game faces on this morning despite the morning's thermometer reading -16 Fahrenheit. They were preparing for day one of the 2009 US National Cross Country Skiing Championships today in Anchorage, Alaska, with a classical technique 1.5 and 1.1km sprint competition at Kincaid Park. Instead of a sprint, the athletes were treated to a waiting game.

According to rules set forth by the international governing body of the sport, the Federation International de Ski (FIS), the legal low starting temperature for an official competition is -20 degrees Celsius, or -4 degrees Fahrenheit. With the forecast citing a high temp of -7 Fahrenheit, most of the rambunctious field of the nation's best ski racers sat in the Kincaid Park chalet, hoping the forecasters were wrong. They weren't. The competition jury met for a final decision at 1:30 p.m. and decided to postpone the sprint competition until tomorrow, but with tomorrow's forecast identical to today's, it remains to be seen if the sprint competition tomorrow will be another waiting game, or possibly being canceled altogether.

"We were ready to go, but it's deathly slow out there," said Saints head coach, Chad Salmela, regarding the skiing conditions. "It's simply been cold for so long now that the snow has horrible gliding properties, but everyone is in the same boat, so there's no disadvantage to anyone."

The postponement of the sprint bumps it up against Monday's distance freestyle race, an NCAA qualifier for the CCSA Central region, and the reason for the Saints presence here. "We're still talking about the pros and cons of who should and who may not race the sprint tomorrow with the qualifier skate race the very next day. Right now, we're uncertain. We'll make the decision tonight based on how both the coaches and athletes feel about it for each individual," said Salmela. The sprint race is not an official collegiate discipline.

Though Anchorage is set to stay in a relative deep freeze through Wednesday, FIS-legal temperatures are expected for Monday's distance race, with a high temperature around 0-degrees Fahrenheit.