Complete Results

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (csssaints.com) – As St. Scholastica senior Sarah Allen (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS (Northern Michigan)) headed out on the final leg of the 3x5km freestyle relay, the Saints seemed to have their sixth straight Minnesota College Championship in hand as Brooke Adams (Spooner, Wis./Spooner HS ) and Ellie Evans (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) of CSS Team 1 traded lead changes with Gustavus Adolphus 1 for two legs of the 3x5km freestyle relay. 

Allen had a slight lead over Gustavus 1 and about a 15-second cushion over CSS 2's final leg skier, junior Sharmila Ahmed (Savage, Minn./Burnsville HS), who was tagged third by junior Liz Peterson (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) and sophomore Chelsey Youngberg (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS).

Allen pulled ahead by nearly 20 seconds over Marian Lund of Gustavus in the first three kilometers, but a wrong turn scrubbed her lead back down to nothing and then a few seconds deficit. 

Allen recovered, retook the lead, but in the end got outrun by Lund, for the championship and ultimately Ahmed.  Despite a strong show of force with two Saints teams sprinting for the win, it was the Gusties who took the championship title from the Saints for the first time since 2009.

"It was a great race that Sarah, by no ill intention, just made all the more exciting," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela.

Salmela considered packing one team with the top three ranked skiers, but reconsidered and spread the team strength out over all the teams for a more exciting and challenging race. 

"The strategy cost us the championship I think, but the result was a much better race. I wouldn't change the decision. That's just racing. Gustavus just beat us down the stretch. Good for them."

The Saints gear up for NCAA qualifying action in Cable, Wis. next weekend.