Results
Team Points

ISHPEMING, Mich. (csssaints.com) -- St. Scholastica senior Sarah Allen (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS (Northern Michigan)) skied a pivotal second leg in the women's relay, flipping a 17-second deficit to St. Olaf into nearly a minute advantage, to buoy the Saints skiers to a fourth place finish in the women's Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Championship 3x5km classic relay.

Freshman speedster Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash., Liberty Bell HS) led off for the Saints, keeping contact with the leaders early on, but the big climbs midway through the challenging Al Quaal course took their toll, as Dickinson slipped to eighth overall, fifth among official scoring teams, at the first exchange.  Allen had one opportunity and an outside one at that—make up the 17-second deficit on St. Olaf.  With Northern Michigan, Alaska Fairbanks, and Michigan Tech skiing away soundly from the remainder of the field, Allen went to work on her in-state rivals, posting the fourth fastest time of her leg and handing a huge cushion to anchor skier, Brooke Adams (Spooner, Wis./Spooner HS ), over the Oles.

Adams would gain a bit of time on everyone in the hunt, except the two leaders, Northern Michigan and Alaska Fairbanks to bring the team home in fourth among the college teams, sixth in the entire field in a total time of 41:49.4, to give the Saints 51 points.  Northern Michigan won soundly in a time of 39:27.7, scoring 78 points.  Alaska Fairbanks finished second in a total time of  39:53.1, scoring 69 points, and Michigan Tech finished third in a time of 40:38.1 to score 60.

After two of four events of the CCSA conference championship, Northern Michigan leads with 145 points, Alaska is second with 129, Michigan Tech is third with 123, and the Saints are fourth with 99.

“We saw another strong effort today,” according to Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  “When you start getting into the racing season and you throw a relay into it, you never know what you're going to get.  Kelsey had the hard task of leading off and struggled a bit, but held tough.  Sarah and Brooke threw down strong performances and held us in really good position for the conference championship distance races in two weeks.  I'm really excited to see Sarah racing consistently strong and see some life in Brooke despite really hard circumstances that threatened to keep her from racing at all this year.  I know it's rewarding to her personally, and it's one of those things that just transforms your perspective on things as a coach.”

The Saints have a week off from competition before finishing out the conference championships with a 5km classic and 15km mass start freestyle, February 16 and 17 at Mt. Itasca in Coleraine, Minn.