Complete Results

WAUSAU, Wis. (csssaints.com) – Chris Parr (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) led an impressive showing of team depth Sunday, as he set the best times wire-to-wire in the men's 10km classic at the Aspirus Junior Olympic Qualifier, Sunday, in Wausau, WI, to lead a St. Scholastica sweep of the podium.

Parr led teammate, junior Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly HS), by a single second through 5km, with teammates and seniors, Scott Johanik (Washburn, Wis./Washburn HS ) and John Wessling (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS), following 13 and 19 seconds back, holding the top for spots for the Saints at the halfway mark. But Parr, who strode comfortable and powerfully for three of the four laps, kicked in a big last loop to cross the line 14.4 seconds ahead of Schommer for the win in a time of 30:58.1 to 31:12.5, respectively. 

Johanik held on to take third and realize a podium sweep for the Saints in 31:39.9, while Wessling slipped from fourth to sixth as two Michigan Tech skiers snuck in front of him for fourth and fifth at the finish. 

Technically, Wessling tied with Michigan Tech's Thomas Kendrick as skiing rules time to only the 10th of a second only, but the timing contractor had Kendrick three one-hundredths of a second ahead of Wessling, which would normally render a tie.

"The guys all skied really well today," according to Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "Chris skied with such power and confidence, and it was fun to watch him pick up the intensity in that last lap."

Salmela saw this weekend's racing as pivotal to the team's December preparation for the remainder of the season. 

"I wanted Saturday's sprint to prime the guys a bit, and today, it looked like the majority of our guys could give a little more than they have yet this year on snow, so mission accomplished for the weekend." 

As for the sweep, Salmela was proud but sober about the accomplishment. 

"It was an abbreviated collegiate field, but Tech had all but one of their top skiers in action, so to sweep the podium was not only hard, but unprecedented as far as I can remember. Regardless of the situation, it's never easy for our program to go 1, 2, 3, so to do it was a very nice accomplishment in a setting that can set a very positive impression for the program."

The Saints will send five male skiers to the U.S. National Championships at Soldier Hollow, in Heber City, Utah, January 4-8. The event serves as an NCAA Central Region qualifier for the NCAA Championships.  The remainder of the men's squad will go on break and will come together for the team's Christmas Break camp on January 5th at Giants Ridge.  The following college competition will be the Minnesota College Championships on January 11th.