Complete Results
IROWNWOOD, Mich. – Over a foot of snow fell on the Gogebic Range over Saturday night to challenge skiers Sunday morning at the Grandview Wolverine Challenge women's 10km classic.
St. Olaf freshman Paige Schember shocked the strong, heavily collegiate field, edging Northern Michigan standout, Christina Turman, by 1.7 seconds, to win in a time of 33:32.4. Turman's teammate, Marie Helen Soderman, finished third in 33:42.5.
CSS junior #Eleanor Magnuson# led the Saints' efforts in 10th place in a time of 34:44.6. Magnuson posted the eighth-best time collegiately. Freshman #Brooke Adams# finished 29th overall in a time of 36:35.5, and senior #Lindsay Wallis# rounded out the Saints' top three finishers with a 39th place in 37:19.5.
Magnuson has battled a back injury she sustained before coming to St. Scholastica, which flared up a bit in Sunday's difficult classic skiing conditions. “I felt really good until about 8k,” said Magnuson, “but then my back started to tense up and I had to back off. Other than that, I felt pretty good.”
“Eleanor's fitness was solid this weekend and she is gaining confidence with each race,” said Saints head coach #Chad Salmela#. He felt the conditions were simply challenging and that Magnuson's back problem is primarily under control.
“When you get a foot of snow overnight and it's still dumping during the race, you're simply going to slip on some of your kicks because the track isn't firm, and worse, the new snow in the track sheers off when you place the kick wax, no matter how good the kick wax job is,” explained Salmela. “Eleanor's back is in pretty solid shape, but Eleanor kicks really hard—that's her strength in classic. But in snowy conditions, it's a finesse game, and when you kick hard and slip, 10, 20, 40 times over the course of a half hour race, your lower back has to compensate for the loss of balance on each kick. Unfortunately, while Eleanor's back is primarily healed, it's still probably weaker than 100%, so a day like today is going to take its toll. We ski mostly in such good track conditions that Eleanor's normal mode of success was just not really going to work 100% today, and it tested her back a bit. But a whole lot of people beside's Eleanor are going to feel their lower back when they wake up tomorrow morning. It was just that kind of day.”
A small selected group of Saints skiers will compete at the USSA 2011 National Cross Country Skiing Championships in Rumford, Maine January 2-6. On Monday, Salmela will name the team who will travel to Maine.
