Complete Results
Final Team Scores
2013 NCAA Skiing Championships Web Site

RIPTON, Vt. (csssaints.com) -- St. Scholastica senior Jeremy Hecker (Andover, Minn./Andover HS (Minnesota-Twin Cities)) faced his final NCAA Championship race at the Rikert Nordic Center on the Breadloaf Campus of Middlebury College, coming off the worst NCAA showing in Saints history on Thursday in the men's 10km classic.  The memories of Thursday and a tight back that was the culprit for much of the poor performance would melt away, however, as Hecker skied into the final lap among the leaders to finish a program-best 11th place, in a time of 50:36.8, just 23.4 seconds off the pace of winner, Miles Havlick of Utah.

The pace started slowly causing several broken poles and even a broken ski, over the first few kilometers, because of the congestion.   Hecker hung near the back of the field for the first of four kilometer loops, still in contact with the lead pack, but running in the low 30s, about 25 seconds off the pace setters.

By lap two, the pace quickened slightly, and skiers began slowly coming off the back, but Hecker hung tough, skiing in the high 20s through the halfway mark.

As the sun began to slow the course, the pace at the front was still very controlled, but more skiers started coming off the main group, with Hecker hanging on at the rear of what had become a main field of 20, with the final 5km lap to go. 

As if the final lap and the slow pace was a que, Northern Michigan's Erik Soederman--the defending NCAA freestyle champion--made a move right out of the stadium that instantly became the move of the race.  Soederman led by 16km with four other skiers in tow and teammate, Kyle Bratrud dangling off the lead five in sixth.   Hecker saw the move and started to move up the field, sitting 16th with 4km to go.  

By 17.5km, the race was on and a lead group of eight consisting of Soederman, Colorado's 10km Champion from Thursday, Rune Oedegaard, New Mexico's Mats Resaland, Dartmouth's Sam Tarling, Middlebury's Ben Lustgarten, and a trio of Utah Utes, Miles Havlick, Einar Ulsund, and Niklas Person, began throwing the blows that would decide who would be NCAA Champ.  Hecker, along with Dartmouths' Silas Talbot, NMU's Bratrud, Montana State's David Norris, and Denver's Andrew Dougherty and Trygve Markset, struggled to keep pace, with Hecker in the middle of the chase group in 13th, with 2.5km to go.

Coming out of the woods, into the final climb to the finish, it was a mad scramble for the win at the front, only Bratrud and Talbot had turned it into a 10-man sprint for the win.  Hecker trailed up the final hill by himself, clearly unable to grab hold of the 10 All-American spots up for grabs, but soundly in 11th by himself with a gap on Dougherty, Norris, and Marsket. 

Havlick, the defending 20km mass start champion from 2012, only in the classic technique, turned on the jets and Odegaard tried to make 2013 his year with a double-win, but Havlick nipped the Odegaard for the title by six-tenths of a second, with his teammate Ulsund crossing another four-tenths back for the final podium spot.  After making the move of the race, defending champion, Soederman, finished 1.6 seconds later in fourth. 

"It was a thrilling race to watch, and it was just all the more exciting having a skier right in the thick of it at the end," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela.  "After Thursday, we were pretty somber.  We knew Jeremy still had the fitness.  We just needed to see if he could pull one out and put his ailing back out of his mind.  He skied so smart."

Hecker knew he was in for a good race with 2km left.  "He came by me in a tuck and gave me two thumbs up and a smile" recounted Saints assistant coach Joshua Tesch.  "You could see he had enough left in the tank to race [those final kilometers]. "

"I felt really good," said a glowing Hecker after the race.  In the finishing chute "It was just awesome. I'm so happy right now."

Salmela felt Hecker's performance was a classic case of reading the situation and great circumstances.  "Jeremy likes to start slow.  The race started slow. Jeremy likes to build the race up in the last few k's.  The race built up in the last few k's.  He raced the perfect tactical race, and his form was there to turn it into something.   He wasn't out there banging it out at the front at all.  He was where he needed to be when push came to shove.  There are a lot of people who finished behind him that didn't do that, clearly.  He is a master tactician, and today proves that."

The result initially showed Hecker 10th, which sent him into tears, as the top 10 receive All-American honors, but the results were not accurate and adjusted to his actual finish place of 11th.  "Oh well, I'm still happy" said Hecker.

"This is an All-American performance by us in nature, even if not one in title," said Salmela.  "This is a seriously high level of performance for our program and it shows you what kind of heart Jeremy has after Thursday's race.  It is an amazing day for Jeremy, for me as a coach, for the Saints ski program.  It is legitimate all the way.  23.0 seconds out of a national title is just awesome."

The race caps off an incredibly successful season for the Saints men's program, despite yielding some setbacks to key players for the team. 

"This is the kind of storybook ending you want for a year like we've had," said Salmela.  "It was feeling Thursday an awful lot like we lost the mojo we carried all year, but Jeremy came up big today.  Huge.  This is a day that he will remember his entire life in a very special way.  So will I.  It is a pivotal day for Saints skiing, and I'm so happy for Jeremy to end his career in such a dramatic, exciting way."