Men's Classic Results
Team Scores

COLERAINE, Minn. (csssaints.com) -- Senior Jeremy Hecker (Andover, Minn./Andover HS (Minnesota-Twin Cities)) used his typical strong close to move into fourth position over the final kilometers of the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Championships 10km Classic at Mt. Itasca, posting the top finish for the Saints in a time of 26:27.8.  Hecker was 13.6 seconds shy of winner, Erik Soederman of Northern Michigan who posted a time of 26:14.2.  Soederman's teammate, Kyle Bratrud, finished second in 26:19.7, while Alaska Fairbank's Jonas Loeffler, rounded out the podium in at time of 26:24.7.

The Saints mixed it up with the CCSA's best, with junior John Wessling (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) posting his best finish with a full CCSA field, in eighth place, with a time of 26:58.4.  Also posting his best full-CCSA-field finish and rounding out the scoring for the Saints was sophomore Nick Power (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) in 12th, with a time of 27:26.6.  The Saints finished solidly in third place scoring 62 points.  Northern Michigan won the day with 76 and Alaska Fairbanks finished second with 67.

"This was a big day today for our team," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  "We have historically come out flat after our weekend off, and we focused on that not happening this year.  To come out a crank out a day like we did as a team today is really rewarding."   Wessling bounced back after a couple of races that challenged him after posting his career best finish in fourth at Giants Ridge three weeks earlier, with Alaska Fairbanks absent.   Power has been threatening for two seasons to post the kinds of results he is doing this season.

"Both John and Nick really performed at their highest level ever today, and we needed them to do it.  Again, it is the depth of this team that is carrying us week in and week out," according to Salmela.  Power's was the first race in his collegiate career to score for the Saints.

Hecker was a question mark to start as early as this morning, and the Saints were anticipating the return of Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly HS), the team's top skier from last season, trying to come back from illness.   Hecker would prove to be fine, posting his eighth straight top-5 finish on the season, while Schommer struggled to find a competitive pace after more than a month since last stepping to the start line.

"Jeremy's performance was remarkable in that fact we did nothing to get him ready like we normally would," said Salmela.  "When your region qualifies seven and you have yet to finish out of the top five, the odds are pretty good you'll advance to the NCAA Championships." 

For Schommer, the day was a bit more sobering.  With no qualifying events on the books and just three more NCAA qualifying events left on the season, Schommer needed to use today's race and the next three to qualify for his second straight trip to the NCAAs.  "Paul was facing a very hard situation.  We tried to balance recovery with getting ready for a race.  He gave a great effort out there, but it's clear he needs a few more races to get to where we know he can ski.  It's just sad that we don't have any time left to get ready to prove what he can do at the NCAAs.  Mathematically, he could possibly still do it, but it will take some extraordinary racing.   We'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other."

With three CCSA Conference Championship races in the books and only the men's 20km Freestyle Mass Start Sunday, the Saints men sit in second place behind Northern Michigan, 227 to 196 respectively.  Michigan Tech sits in third with 174, and Alaska Fairbanks in fourth with 172.   The Saints are in position to finish on the podium for the second straight season, and possibly move up a rung with a solid 20km freestyle Sunday.