Complete Results

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – St. Scholastica freshman #Kasey Bacso# (Fr.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) led the Saints men skiers in the first day of competition at the 2010 U.S. National Cross Country Skiing Championships in the men's 1.5km sprint on Saturday.

Bacso finished 57th overall among male competitors in qualifying round, finishing in a time of 3:09.5 seconds, 19.5 seconds behind top qualifier and eventual overall winner, Simeon Hamilton of Sun Valley, Idaho. Bacso qualified for the semifinals in the 19 and under junior category by finishing 15th among juniors. The top 12 juniors outside of the top 30 qualified for the semis. Since four junior men qualified in the top 30 for the overall men's head-to-head quarterfinals, Bacso moved on as the 11th of 12 qualifiers to the junior semifinals, a first in CSS program history at the U.S. Nationals.

CSS juniors #Waylon Manske# (Jr.-Bemidji, Minn.) finished 80th and #Mason Bacso# (Jr.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) finished 87th respectively, but did not advance to the semifinals in the Under 23 age category.

In the junior semifinals, Bacso started conservatively taking sixth position of 6 out of the stadium, and was tripped up on the first major climb putting him out of contention to move on the A final. Bacso skied into the finish conserving energy for the B final that would decide seventh through 12th positions on the day. In the B final, Bacso initially took the lead, then marked the leaders in third until the critical climb of the course. On the climb, Bacso made a definitive move on the rest of the field and never relinquished the lead to the finish to win the B final to finish seventh in the junior rounds. His seventh place finish in the junior heats put him in 10th place on the day for the junior category, since the top 3 junior competitors competed in the open men's heats.

Winning the B final was "the coolest thing I've ever done in my life," said Bacso.

"Kasey's race today was a ground breaking performance for our program," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "It was really disheartening to watch his chances at the A final disappear in the course of a couple of seconds when he got tangled behind a fallen skier in front of him. But winning the B final in the fashion he did was a better learning experience about how to race a sprint round, despite finishing a few places lower than maybe he was capable of. It was just a good day for experience for Kasey."

The U.S. National Championships also serve as the Junior World Championship Team trials. The top six junior competitors after today's 1.5km sprint, Monday's 15km freestyle, and Wednesday's 10km classic races, will qualify for the U.S. Junior World Championship Team. The Junior World Championships will take place January 24-31, in Hinterzarten, Germany. "To be to the 11th junior in the country, with everyone here gunning for the Junior World Championships Team, is a really strong statement of what he's capable of," said Salmela. "All the guys raced really well with Waylon missing the Under 23 rounds by three spots and Mason by five. It was our best showing as a program at a U.S. National Championships as a team ever. It was a very exciting day for us."

The Saints continue competition in Anchorage Monday with an individual start 15km freestyle race.

2010 U.S. National Championships
Men's 1.5km Sprint
Anchorage, AK
1/2/10

MEN FINAL
1 HAMILTON, Simeon Sun Valley Ski Educ 2:53.8
2 HINCKLEY, Mike APUNSC/Rossignol +1.0
3 KUZZY, Garrott USST/CXC Team Ve +1.5

QUALFIYING TIMES
57 BACSO, Kasey 18 College of St Scholastica MOJ 14 3:09.35 +19.52
80 MANSKE, Waylon 21 College of St Scholastica MU23 20 3:13.98 +24.15
87 BACSO, Mason 21 College of St Scholastica MU23 21 3:16.91 +27.08
105 NISTLER, Matt 21 College of St Scholastica MU23 25 3:22.66 +32.83
119 WRIGHT, Ryan 18 College of St Scholastica MOJ 36 3:30.27 +40.44

JUNIOR MEN
1 KORNFIELD, Tyler University of Alaska Fairbanks 2:56.1 (Open final)
2 BJORNSEN, Erik Methow Olympic Development 3:05.6 (Open Semi-Final)
3 FAGERSTROM, Erik Sun Valley Ski Educaction 3:00.5 (Open Quarter-Final)
4 CARTWRIGHT, George Northern Michigan 3:02.2 (Open Quarter-Final)
5 MARSTON, Chase Middlebury College 3:05.6 (Junior A-Final)
6 BARD, Joey Maine Winter Sports +0.2 “
7 TYLER, Bridger Stratton Mountain S +1.0 “
8 PATTERSON, Scott Alaska Winter Stars +1.9 “
9 HUGUS, Benjamin Northern Michigan +6.8 “
10 DAVIS, Skyler Stratton Mountain S +10.9 “
11 BACSO, Kasey College of St Scholastica 3:06.9 (Junior B-Final)