Complete Results

DULUTH, Minn. – St. Scholastica sophomore #Kasey Bacso# finished 10th in a time of 32:21.7 to lead the Saints men in Sunday's Saints Hilltop Invitational at the Marshall School.

University of Alaska-Fairbanks' Alex Morris took top honors in a time of 31:00.1, beating teammate and Saturday's freestyle winner, John Parry, by 34 seconds. Gustavus Adolphus' Anders Bowman took third, just 1.8 seconds behind Parry.

Bacso edged sophomore teammate, #Jeremy Hecker#, by 11.8 seconds for a top-ten finish, while senior #Waylon Manske# rounded out the Saints scoring in 13th, 23 seconds slower than Hecker. The three combined to put the Saints in fourth on the day as a team, two points behind Gustavus and seven behind Michigan Tech.

“I felt like myself today,” said Bacso, who has been slow to come to top race form this season. “I felt like yesterday I just blew out a lot of junk and it felt a lot better today.”

“It was nice to see Kasey pop one today,” said Saints head coach #Chad Salmela#. “We've just been patient, waiting for the racing to start make him come around with his form. I think overall, if this was the best we skied all year this weekend, I would be a little bummed, but I like how we did with where we are in the season and what we did this last week in training.”

The event was used by Salmela to solidify his varsity travel team for the remainder of the season. “This sort of ends a long process, that isn't completely over, but now we have a core crew who have basically created a clear picture of our traveling team, and now we will focus on cranking out the rest of the season, while looking at how those just off the top eight are skiing and possibly giving them a chance at a varsity start if it is warranted.”

The Saints resume NCAA qualifying competition next weekend at the USSA Supertour at Wirth Park in Minneapolis.