WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. – St. Scholastica sophomore #Jeremy Hecker# proved his early season form in the double sprint Thursday was no fluke Friday, finishing 34th in the USSA Supertour Men's 15km freestyle in West Yellowstone, Mont.

Hecker rubbed shoulders with some of the nation's top NCAA skiers, finishing just five seconds behind 2010 NCAA 20km freestyle runner-up, Martin Kaas of the University of New Mexico, with a time of 39:21.0. In fact, Hecker's performance put him in the range—either ahead of or within one minute and 20 seconds—of eight of last season's 10 freestyle NCAA All-Americans. Hecker was the 10th collegiate skier on the day, and the top junior (age 19 and under).

The race was won by CXC's Tad Elliott of Durango, Colo., in a time of 35:49.2. For the third race in two days, two-time U.S. Olympian, Lars Flora of Alaska Pacific University finished second, 11.5 seconds off the pace of Elliott in 36:00.7. Fellow 2006 Olympian and local star, Leif Zimmerman, of Bozeman, Mont., finished third in 36:09.1.

Saints freshman, #Scott Johanik#, debuted for the Saints in 68th place with a time of 42:38.7. Senior captain, #Stefan Hupperts# posted 86th spot in 44:22.7. Sophomore, #Jake Morgan# was 89th in 44:23.0, and senior #Joe Wacker# place 110th in 49:28.5. The Saints were skiing only one or two of the three Supertour races, so each competition was sparsely contended by the Saints full roster on hand for the camp.

“I'm not used to big performances this early in the year,” said Saints head coach #Chad Salmela#. The college ski season doesn't heat up until the middle of January, and Salmela has never hidden the fact that he tries to focus his athletes' form for that time of year. But Hecker has big goals early in the 2011 season. “In Jeremy's case, he needs to be in great form in a month for Junior World trials, and hopefully, Junior Worlds, so the good results are just fine. I'd be a little concerned if his goals for the year weren't to be in top form in January. It's a long way to March from here.”

Hecker has previous national-level chops as a junior skier, but is relatively unknown in the U.S., as most of his racing has been done on the Canadian national circuit. Hecker transferred to St. Scholastica mid-way through last season from the University of Minnesota where he had been training on his own, and scored consistently for the Saints in 2010, but Salmela sensed there was more under the hood. This week's performances indicate Salmela's hunch was well-founded. “I never want to set goal levels for athletes, but looking at where Jeremy had been as a 16 and 17 year old, I felt last season was beneath what he was potentially capable of,” says Salmela. “He was at a very high level just a couple years ago. I was a little unsure where that athlete was last year, but looking at where he was, his training history, and his love of the sport, we were able to dial in things on the performance side. But the biggest thing I think that is bringing him around like this is he's simply having fun with the sport again. Without the love, you can't do much.”

Salmela remains cautiously optimistic, however, as Hecker eyes a spot on the U.S. Junior World Championship team, that will be named in early January and will compete at World Juniors in Otepaa, Estonia, at the end of that month. “It's still early. We've not done much to make Jeremy peak this early. We've just done all our homework. He is a fully-fit athlete right now, and a lot of that is the way he did things before he came to Scholastica. We've just tried to get all the pieces to fit, and so far, it's looking good. It's nice to see a guy who has dotted his I's and crossed his T's, living his goals and backing them up with actions and enjoying the process, start the year so promising.”

The Saints take to the course and close out their camp in West Yellowstone Saturday with the 10km classic race.

1 ELLIOTT, Tad CXC Team 1 35:49.2 0 0.00

2 FLORA, Lars APU Nordic Ski Center 1 36:00.7 +11.5 4.28

3 ZIMMERMANN, Leif Bridger Ski Foundation 36:09.1 +19.9 7.41

34 HECKER, Jeremy College of St Scholastica 39:21.0 +3:31.8 78.84

68 JOHANIK, Scott College of St Scholastica 42:38.7 +6:49.5 152.43

86 HUPPERTS, Stefan College of St Scholastica 44:22.7 +8:33.5 191.14

89 MORGAN, Jake College of St Scholastica 44:23.0 +8:33.8 191.25

110 WACKER, Joe College of St Scholastica 49:28.5 +13:39.3 304.97