Results

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – St. Scholastica sophomore #Eleanor Magnuson# (So.-Champlin Park, Minn.) led the Saints women skiers in the first day of competition at the 2010 U.S. National Cross Country Skiing Championships in the women's 1.4km sprint on Saturday.

Magnuson finished 65th overall among female competitors in the qualifying round, in a time of 3:38.43 seconds, 35.8 seconds behind top qualifier, and eventual overall winner, Kikkan Randall of Anchorage. Randall is the 2009 World Championship silver medalist in this discipline. CSS junior #Julia Curry# (Jr.-Woodbury, Minn.) finished 100th in a time of 3:48.81 seconds. Neither Magnuson nor Curry qualified for the junior or under 23 semifinal heats.

Magnuson finished ninth among Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) competitors, and 26th among all collegiate skiers.

"Eleanor skied strong today in the middle of a very competitive national field, and Julia skied very technical, but did not feel she could really turn it over today" said Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "This was a great chance for both to get out and compete against the best women in the country, and it was nice to see Eleanor in the top 10 among our conference skiers. Both skied really well technically and I think they will do really well in the coming distance races."

The Saints continue competition in Anchorage Monday with an individual start 10km freestyle race.

2010 U.S. National Championships
Men's 1.4km Sprint
Anchorage, AK
1/2/10

WOMEN FINAL
1 RANDALL, Kikkan USST/APU 3:03.6
2 DUSSAULT, Rebecca CXC Team Vertical Limit +1.8
3 VALAAS, Laura APU Nordic Ski Center +6.41

WOMEN QUALIFYING
65 MAGNUSON, Eleanor College of St Scholastica 3:38.43
100 CURRY, Julia College of St Scholastica 3:48.81