ANCHORAGE, Alaska – After two days of delays due to cold weather, St. Scholastica junior #Megan Holmes# (Jr.-Gilbert, Minn./Mesabi East) came out and skied to an all-time program best in Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) conference competition today in the women's 5 kilometer freestyle at the U.S. National Cross Country Ski Championships.

Holmes finished 135th in the 169-woman national championship field in a time of 18:48.7. The CXC Elite Team's, Caitlin Compton (Minneapolis), bettered the US Ski Team's, Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK), by 3.5 seconds on Randall's home course. The US Ski Team's Liz Stephen (Burke, VT) finished 8.3 seconds out of the win to take third.

The National Championships also were the first of five Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) conference qualification races that select skiers to the NCAA Skiing Championships in March. Holmes posted the best finish in the Saints three-year history in CCSA competition, finishing 16th among CCSA female skiers.

“Megan has worked hard and seen big improvements in her physical preparation this year and it's starting to show,” said Saints head coach, Chad Salmela. “This was a great opportunity for Megan to show these improvements in competition, and she raced really well today. I'm very pleased with what I saw and this sets her up with a lot more confidence, in such a big event, going into the bulk of the racing season.”

The U.S. National Championships have been plagued by cold temps all week, causing postponement of Saturday's 1.1 classical sprint until Wednesday. Today's competition was originally slated to be a 10km freestyle race but was shortened to fit the forecasted window of legal race temperature. The Federation International de Ski prohibits racing below negative 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit). Today's race was conducted just above legal temperatures.

Tomorrow was originally scheduled to be a rest day, but with the weather related challenges, the organizers have scheduled a 10 kilometer classic event in hopes of holding all four scheduled races in four straight days. Forecasts indicate yet another challenging day tomorrow for the race jury in pulling off the second of four scheduled National Championship races.

2009 United States National Championships
Women's 5km Freestyle
1 COMPTON, Caitlin CXC Elite 14:48.3 0
2 RANDALL, Kikkan USST/APU 14:51.8
3 STEPHEN, Elizabeth USST/Burke 14:56.6
135. HOLMES, Megan College of St Scholastica 18:48.7

CCSA Conference NCAA Qualifier Results
Women's 5km Freestyle
1. COULTER, Anna University of Alaska Fairbanks 16:08.4
2. PIERSON, Julia University of Alaska Fairbanks 16:17.6
3. SODERMAN, Marie-Helen Northern Michigan University 16:18.4
4. CHAUDOIN, Kelly Gustavus Adolphus College 16:34.0
5. DEWITT, Laura Northern Michigan University 16:41.5
6. HABERMANN, Elisabeth University of Alaska Fairbanks 16:52.3
7. SCHNURR, Theresia University of Alaska Fairbanks 16:57.4
8. FJELDHEIM, Ingrid Northern Michigan University 16:57.5
9. BERGLUND, Anna Karin Northern Michigan University 17:29.9
10. GILLIS, Christina Northern Michigan University 17:31.9
16. HOLMES, Megan College of St Scholastica 18:48.7