Complete Results

COLERAINE, Minn. -- The first ever Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Championship in the individual sprint was held in conjunction with the Saints Hilltop Invitational at Mt. Itasca, Sunday. 

The individual 1.5km classic sprint is an official Federation International de Ski (FIS) and United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) discipline that is common repertoire in the sport of cross country skiing, but is not contested at the NCAA Skiing Championships. The conference voted in its spring meeting to add an individual sprint to the 2012 calendar and CCSA team championship to broaden the racing opportunities within the conference.  The 1.5k individual classic sprint team score will be combined with a 20km mass start classic and 3x5km freestyle to be held at the CCSA Championships, February 11 and 12 in Houghton, Michigan.

The 1.5km individual sprint began with a qualification time trial to rank the fastest skiers around the course.  The top 18 skiers moved on to three semifinal, head-to-head heats of six skiers each, in which the first two competitors at the finish moved to an A final to contest overall victory, third and fourth move to a B final to contest seventh through 12th places, and fifth and sixth were eliminated and ranked 13th through 18th in order they qualified in the time trial.

All eyes were on recent U.S. National Champion in the discipline, Tyler Kornfield, of Alaska Fairbanks, who also took top honors in Saturday's 9.4km freestyle.  Saints junior Jeremy Hecker (Andover, Minn./Andover HS (Minnesota-Twin Cities)) proved to be one of five skiers to usurp what looked on paper to be a formality for the national champ, with Hecker qualifying fifth, nine-tenths of a second ahead of Kornfield, in a time of 3:33.6 to Kornfield's 3:34.5.  It was Kornfield's UAF teammate, 2012 U.S. Junior World Championship team member, Logan Hanneman, who outclassed the field in qualification with a blistering time of 3:24.5 to qualify first.  He outskied teammate, Jonas Loeffler, by 4.8 seconds, with a UAF sweep of the top three qualification times with Erik Soederstroem clocking 3:30.7 in third.  Michigan Tech's Mikko Harju finished another four-tenths of a second back in 4th.

The Saints men showed their depth for the second day in a row, qualifying five men in the top 18 for the heats.  Freshman Joe Dubay (Coon Rapids, Minn./Andover HS) qualified eighth in 3:36.0, junior Kasey Bacso (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) tied for 13th in 3:40.1, freshman Chris Parr (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) qualified 16th in 3:40.3, and John Wessling (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) qualified in the 18th and final spot in 3:41.4.

Kornfield would not find the speed to contend for the first ever CCSA Championship in his strongest discipline as he was relegated to B final, finishing fourth in his semifinal heat.  He later would not show for the B final, accepting 12th place on the day.

Hecker, on the other hand, charged hard to the line to win his semifinal in a three-way photo finish with Loeffler and Northern Michigan's Kjell-Christian Markset, who qualified in 17th.  Nearly executing a gliding “splits,” Hecker threw his foot in the final meters to win the heat by two boot lengths over Loeffler, and lock as spot among the six skiers to contest the A final and championship title. Markset was relegated to the B final by roughly two inches behind Loeffler.

Dubay finished fourth in his semifinal heat to move on to the B final.  The remainder of the Saints qualifiers were eliminated in their semifinal heats.

In the B final, Dubay started strong, leading the charge up the definitive climb of the course, but was overtaken in the last 500 meters by his competitors to finish fifth in the Kornfield-less heat, and 11th overall on the day.

In the A final, Hecker marked Alaska's Soederstrom, who as a Swedish national, unofficially won the same event at the 2009 U.S. National Championships in this discipline.  Soederstrom opened up a small gap on the major climb.  Hecker, who was sitting third at the time, tried to respond to Soederstroem's acceleration by jumping out of the tracks to move around Loeffler, but tangled slightly with Northern Michigan's Kevin Cutts who was moving up on his right side, allowing Loeffler and Michigan Tech's Harju to pull slightly ahead.  Hecker was unable to make up the lost ground in the final 500 meters, finishing fifth on the day, behind eventual winner, Soederstroem in first, Hanneman in second, Harju in third, and Loeffler in fourth.

With five of their eight skiers moving into the heats, the Saints equaled the number powerhouses Alaska Fairbanks and Northern Michigan qualified.  “It was by all accounts a great day for the men,” reflected Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  “All the guys raced hard and it paid off with as many qualifiers as any team in the field.  That feels really good as a coach.”

With Michigan Tech qualifying only Harju to the heats, the Saints, who finished one point behind the Huskies on Saturday, were guaranteed third place on the day and in the CCSA team race heading into the CCSA Championships in February.  Alaska Fairbanks won the team event with 77 points, Northern Michigan was second with 63, and the Saints finished third on the day with 59, also locking third place for the two-day combined score as well, beating Michigan Tech by three points to take a podium spot.

“We always have a nice rivalry with Michigan Tech, and as it is with any friendly rivalry, it feels good to come out on top,” said Salmela.  “To be just four points shy of Northern Michigan makes this our most competitive CCSA team finish in history with that storied program.  Overall, I couldn't be much more pleased.  Just an incredible team effort.”

The Saints continue CCSA and NCAA qualifying competition January 21 and 22 at the USSA Supertour in Minneapolis with a 10km classic on Saturday and 20km freestyle on Sunday.