Complete Results

LAKE ELMO, Minn. -- The St. Scholastica women's skiers faced the second venue change in three competitions this season due to lack of snow.  The US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) SuperTour, which doubles as a Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) competition, was moved from a snowless St. Paul venue, down the road to a tubing hill and adjacent cornfield, a few miles down the road in Lake Elmo.  A tough, fast course greeted the skiers for a 5km mass start classic.

CSS senior Eleanor Magnuson (Champlin Park, Minn./Champlin Park HS) found her stride, finishing 13th overall in the SuperTour and third in the collegiate race, posting the program's first podium CCSA finish, in a time of 15:53.5.  Michigan Tech's Malin Erickson won the collegiate race in eighth overall, with a time of 15:35.9.  Teammate, Deedra Irwin, edged Magnuson by 1.1 seconds to take second spot. 

Saints sophomore Brooke Adams (Spooner, Wis./Spooner HS ) posted the best collegiate race of her career with a fourth place CCSA finish in 15th overall in the SuperTour, in a time of 16:12.4.  Freshman Sharmila Ahmed (Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS) finished ninth collegiately and 19th overall, in a time of 16:32.0 to round out the Saints scoring.  The Saints finished second as a team to the Huskies.

Erickson took the early collegiate lead maintaining contact with the lead pack of SuperTour skiers on lap one.  The women's collegiate race unfolded similarly to the men's race an hour earlier,  in the fact that Michigan Tech packed the front of the collegiate field early in the race.  But Magnuson and Adams blew the team race wide open as they charged onto lap two, dropping a trio of Tech women--their third and fourth--beating all of them to the line.  After trailing Tech's  Irwin by nearly 20 seconds with 2.5km to go, Magnuson nearly skied up the back of a fading Irwin at the finish, giving her an easy shot at second in Sunday's pursuit.  Adams passed two Huskies and St. Olaf standout, Paige Schember, in the final kilometer to catapult herself into fourth--the second best CCSA finish in program history.  Ahmed struggled to find her form after fighting off illness the previous two days, but made up several places in the final 2 kilometers as well.

With Erickson historically much weaker at freestyle and 15km with which to work,  Magnuson will start Sunday with a view of the Saints' first CCSA win just 17.6 seconds up the trail.  Adams, also a traditionally strong skater is poised to contend for the collegiate podium as well.  Ahmed will sit out Sunday to recover, with Christina Groulx (Thunder Bay, Ontario/St. Ignatius HS (Lakehead University)), who finished 15th on the day, chasing down a group of Tech skiers 12 to 25 seconds in front of her in the team race Sunday

"This was the race we were looking for and knew we had in us," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  "We had a great week of training, we got together as a group and pushed each other hard midweek, and we rested just a touch more, and things just came together.  I think you have to chalk it up though, to the ladies coming together and collectively just making it happen.  It was really fun to give Tech a run for their money and we are set up well as a team for Sunday's pursuit.   It was such a fun day to watch all of them charge the last loop today, top to bottom."

The Saints continue in Lake Elmo Sunday with a 15km freestyle pursuit based on the results from the 5km mass start classic.  The collegiate results will be pulled from the aggregate time on course during the pursuit.