Complete Results

HOUGHTON, Mich. (csssaints.com) – Junior Anita Kirvesniemi (Simpele, Finland/Joensuun Yhteiskoulun Lukio (New Mexico)) gave herself a little bit of an emotional boost into the holiday break Sunday, finishing eighth (ninth overall) and leading the St. Scholastica women's Nordic skiing team on day two of the Michigan Tech Christmas Classic, with a time of 18:09 in the 5km classic.

Northern Michigan's 2013 All-American, Rosie Frankowski, once again outclassed the field by 35 seconds over the snowy course, with a winning time of 16:43.  Teammate, Mary Kate Cirelli, finished second in 17:18, with Michigan Tech's Deedra Irwin breaking up the NMU juggernaut at the top in third with a time of 17:35.

The Saints women, missing two of their top skiers for the weekend, continued to impress with senior Brooke Adams (Spooner, Wis./Spooner HS ) finishing two places behind Kirvesniemi in 10th (12th overall), with a time of 18:36.  Junior Liz Peterson (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) rounded out the Saints scoring and a very solid weekend in 11th (13th overall), just one second behind Adams, in a time of 18:37.  Northern Michigan won with 41 points, with the home team Huskies finishing second with 34, and the Saints taking third with 24.

Kirvesniemi has battled an elusive physical vibrance for some time and came to the Saints working through the summer and fall to stabilize her health for the rigors of training and racing for the strenuous sport.  With a short and compromised window of ski training this fall, Saints head coach Chad Salmela was enthused with Kirvesniemi's performance. 

"Anita is an amazing technical skier, particularly in classic," glowed Salmela. "Today showed that Anita can do a lot just on her ability to ski technically well and we knew this with her past performances in Finland.  She needs to see that she can and will ski race at or above the level she used to, and today, to me, signaled a very real step in that direction. I think it was a big step, even if not super inspiring to the level she's known in the past." 

Kirvesniemi will return home to Finland Wednesday for the holidays, to train more specifically for the coming season, enjoying the recent improvement in her energy. 

"I think today gives a lot for Anita to work off of at home, and that's exciting to me," said Salmela.

The women come off the first major weekend of racing showing what they are capable of, according to Salmela.  "We saw Brooke (Adams) have a really strong weekend.  Liz (Peterson) probably raced the best two back-to-back races of her career here, and the rest of the team that was present all skied at a level I was very happy with.  We have a team that is poised to do very well this winter when everyone is present.  We just need some more priming through December, which is my perennial plan as a coach.  I'm very excited for January and February.  We just need to stay focused individually over break, stay healthy, and come together again as a strong whole in January."

The Saints women will compete with an abbreviated team once again, January 21 and 22 at the USSA Junior Olympic Qualifier in Wausau, Wis.