Complete Relay Results
FInal CCSA Team Scores

HOUGHTON, Mich. -- The St. Scholastica Men's Ski Team finished fourth, third among scoring teams, in the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Championships 3x5km freestyle relay, in a time of 38:23.7, to secure an historic third-place finish in the 2012 CCSA Conference Championships.  The Saints previous best finish was fourth.

Going into the final of three competitions --January's 1.4km individual sprint, Saturday's 20km mass start classic, and Sunday's relay--the Saints had bested Michigan Tech by three points in each of the first two competitions, holding onto a slim, six point lead over the Huskies for third.  With nine-point increments between each place in the relay scoring, the final spot on the CCSA podium would be a Saints/Huskies showdown on the Huskies' home course.

Northern Michigan's A team scramble leg, Erik Soderman, the conferences top-ranked freestyle skier, jumped out to an early lead.  At the top of the first major climb 2km in to the race, only Saints A team lead leg, Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly HS), made a go at Soderman and built a five second gap on the rest of the field.  By 4km, Soderman was alone at the front while Schommer had been caught by Michigan Tech's Matt Dugan.  Dugan would exchange a split second ahead of Schommer, with Gustavus Adolphus chasing three seconds back, while favorites, Alaska Fairbanks, trailed Schommer by 9.5 seconds in sixth.

As Northern Michigan A continued to pull away early in leg 2, Saints sophomore Scott Johanik (Washburn, Wis./Washburn HS ) marked Michigan Tech's Jesse Smith for the first kilometer and half, while Alaska A's Ludwig Schott and NMU B's Kevin Cutts, quickly snuck up and joined the duo into the first climb.  As Cutts made a move up the first climb, Johanik tried going with him, gapping Schott and Smith, but his charge was short-lived.  By 4km, Cutts had gapped all three, and Schott and Smith had reversed the standings as Johanik fought to keep pace.  At the final exchange, NMU A held a 44-second advantage over Smith, who had moved MTU A into second, NMU B in third, and UAF A in fourth, all tagging within 3.2 seconds.  Johanik tagged junior, Jeremy Hecker (Andover, Minn./Andover HS (Minnesota-Twin Cities)), 9.2 seconds down to second-place, Michigan Tech.

With three CCSA victories this season to his name, UAF A's Tyler Kornfield quickly disposed of Michigan Tech's Mikko Harju, with NMU B's, Kyle Bratrud, catching a ride.  The two would not relinquish second and third, respectively, all the way to the finish. At the top of the first climb at 1.5km and skiing alone, Harju's edge over Hecker remained roughly 10 seconds.  But as both skiers continued to ski alone, Hecker slowly pulled a few seconds out of Harju by the 4km mark.  With a mad dash down the final bit of flat and rolling terrain before the final 600 meters of climbing to the finish line, Hecker made up the roughly six seconds on the tall Finn, blowing by him at the bottom of the final climb to the finish.  The move was not contested.  By the finish, Hecker had taken another 14.7 seconds out of Harju, crossing the finish line, arms raised, and putting the day in the Saints skiing record books.

NMU A won in a time of 37:27.7, UAF A finished second in 38:07.0, and NMU B rounded out the podium, two-tenths of a second back in 38:07.2.

The Nanooks won the conference championship team title with 248 points, the Wildcats were second with 240, and the Saints third with 200.

“It was such an exciting race,” said Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  “I was literally dizzy at the end, running from point to point the whole race and shouting, urging them on.  The guys just skied brilliantly.”

With the gap to Michigan Tech not closing much to the 4km mark in the final lap and Hecker's slow start to the 20km Saturday, Salmela had his doubts about the Saints making history today, but believed it would fall their way when Harju showed signs of cracking in the closing stages. 

“I just felt like Jeremy was running out of room to catch Mikko, and I doubted it would happen today.  Then, just as I thought that, I saw Mikko look back and there was still about a kilometer to go, and I realized Jeremy could do it.  Jeremy could see him easily, and that's everything in that situation.  I got to the top of the final little gradual downhill—the last place to get a rest before the final climb to the finish—and just told Jeremy he had to ski into the downhill and carry more speed than him across those meters that Mikko was going to try to rest.” 

By the time Salmela repositioned himself on the uphill into the stadium, Hecker had already gone by and built a gap on Harju. 

“When I saw blue instead of Yellow coming out of the woods, I just knew it was over.  It was such a relief.  It just sunk in.  We hadn't been here before.”

The Saints finished third in the team scoring of all three CCSA Championship events, but the relay was the sweetest for Salmela. 

“The points breakdown make the relay important for the team title—and for us, it was do or die in the relay.  But points aside, there is just no other event that exhibits what your team does, like a relay.  It will be a fond memory for me.”

With the CCSA Championship behind them, the Saints men head into the NCAA Central Regional Championship in Negaunee, Mich., with both Schommer and Hecker in the hunt for an NCAA Skiing Championships berth.  The Saints end the regular season with a 10km individual start freestyle Friday, and a 15km mass start classic on Saturday.  NCAA Skiing Championship nominations will be announced the following week.