Complete Results

BIWABIK, Minn. (csssaints.com) -- St. Scholastica sophomore Sharmila Ahmed (Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS) solidified her best back-to-back race weekend of her college career with a third place finish in the Women's 15km mass start freestyle.

Ahmed and teammates Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash., Liberty Bell HS) and Sarah Allen (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS (Northern Michigan)), wanted the crowd gathered at Giants Ridge near Biwabik to know whose home meet they were watching, charging out of the start in second, third, and fourth in the early running behind Northern Michigan's Rosie Frankowski.

Once the field got out into the forest, however, Frankowski threw down a pace nobody could match.  The closest anyone in the college field could come to Frankowski by the 10km mark was Ahmed, 40 seconds back.

As Frankowski powered away over the last 5 kilometers, Ahmed had company in Michigan Tech's Lynn Duijndam, with Northern Michigan's Jordyn Ross breathing down their necks.  Frankowski eventually would put a whopping one minute four seconds on the field, crossing the line in at time of 48:38.9.  Duijndam made her move halfway around the final 5km course and pulled out 14 seconds on Ahmed to take second in the college race and overall in a time of 49:43.2.  Unattached skier, Alice Flanders, finished between Duijndam, forcing Ahmed to fourth overall, but third in the CCSA field in a time of 49:57.2.

Freshman Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash., Liberty Bell HS) posted her first CCSA top-10 in 10th spot for the Saints in a time of 51:40.5, while senior Sarah Allen (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS (Northern Michigan)), despite a costly tangle that lost her contact with the lead group early in the race, finished in 15th in 52:41.5.

The Saints women finished third on the day with a team score of 57.  Northern Michigan won with 74, while Michigan Tech took revenge on their loss to the Saints in Saturday's classic race, posting 65 points for second on the day.

“It was another great day for us,” according to Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  “Sharmila skied awesome again today and put up a perhaps the most consistent performance at the front of the women's field for the weekend.  Kelsey posted her first top 10 and Sarah had an unfortunate tangle with another skier that set her back a ways, so with those performances, I'm super happy with the whole weekend. ”

The Saints have developed a rivalry with the Huskies of Michigan Tech, splitting the race days and tying for the weekend.  “Racing is never the same thing one day to the next.  Tech had a better day today than we did, but I think we skied just as well as yesterday, so when your rival out performs you when you performed great, all you can do is tip your hat.  We really had a great weekend,” said Salmela.

The Saints and Huskies tied for the two-day weekend women's scoring with 118 points each with Northern Michigan winning with 151, while the combined the Saints finished second combined on the weekend with the total team score of 258 to Northern Michigan's 300.  Michigan Tech finished third in total scoring with 233 points.

The Saints travel February 2nd and 3rd to the CCSA Sprint and Relay Championships in Negaunee, Mich., hosted by Northern Michigan University.