Complete Results
Team Scores

HOUGHTON, Mich. (csssaints.com) -- In the penultimate ski race of the 2103 season, the St. Scholastica men skiers punctuated a remarkable season with an exhibition of depth in the NCAA Central Regional 10km classic on Saturday.  On a tricky day of kick waxing with moist new snow challenging the coaching staffs, the Saints claimed two NCAA All-Central Region honors, and packed eight skiers in the top 21.

Senior Jeremy Hecker (Andover, Minn./Andover HS (Minnesota-Twin Cities)) continued his impressively consistent season, jumping into the top five in the final few hundred meters of race after hanging sixth or seventh most of the race.  With 200 meters to go, Hecker was sitting in seventh, but just two seconds out of fifth.  He surged past Alaska Fairbanks' Lex Treinen and Northern Michigan's Chris Bowler in that short distance, to claim fifth in a time of 31:50.4.  He edged Treinen and Bowler by 1.3 and 1.4 respectively

The day belonged to Michael Fehrenbach of Alaska Fairbanks, crushing the field by 48.6 seconds with at winning time 30:27.8.  Teammate, Logan Hanneman, returning to central regional skiing for the first time since representing the United States in the Junior World Championships in January, finished second in 31:16.4.  Northern Michigan's Erik Soederman finished thid in 31:22.7.

Skiing in only his third central regional collegiate race of the season, CSS sophomore Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly HS) claimed all-region honors for the second time in his career, finishing 10th.  Schommer fell ill in mid-January and got back to racing for the first time last weekend at the CCSA distance championships.  Finding a bit of his form that made him the top central region in classic skiing at the 2012 NCAA Championships, Schommer claimed the final all-region honor in at time of 32:19.8

But the Saints didn't stop there.  They jammed the top 20 with seven and put eight in the top 21 with sophomore, Chris Parr (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS), rounding out the Saints scoring in 12th, with junior Scott Johanik (Washburn, Wis./Washburn HS ) in 13th; freshman Calvin Mehrhof (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids HS ) in 17th, sophomore Nick Power (Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) in 18th, junior John Wessling (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) in 20th; and senior Kasey Bacso (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) in 20th.

The Saints finished third as a team with 53 points.  Alaska won the day with 66 points, and Northern Michigan finished second with 61.

The conditions made the coaches nervous, but the skis held up and kicked throughout the race.  "We were obviously very happy that we came through," according to Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  "Ever since yesterday, we've been white-knuckling the kick wax, not finding anything that just flat out worked.  We knew we had something running for the men as long as it didn't start snowing heavily again or the sun didn't come out and turn the snow to mush.  We just went with what we could find, and it held up for the guys.  It was rewarding to dodge that bullet and see the guys do what they've been doing all year."

The Saints regular season comes to a close Sunday with the NCAA Central Regional 15km Freestyle mass start.  Hecker appears to have mathematically locked up one of seven qualifying position for the NCAA Championships.  The qualifiers will be named officially Monday.