Complete Results

MIDWAY, Utah (csssaints.com) – St. Scholastica's Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly HS) posted the 25th best time in the 2014 NCAA Skiing Championships 10km classic Thursday, in a time of 27:18.2, but the performance, though second best classic performance at the Championship by a Saints skier, felt less like a milestone than a missed opportunity.

Colorado's Rune Odegaard successfully defended his title won in 2013 event, in a time of 24:34.5, 11.3 seconds faster than Pierre Guedon of Denver.  The host team's Niklas Persson of Utah rounded out the podium in 25:00.9.

The Central Region represented well on day one of cross country with Northern Michigan's Kyle Bratrud taking sixth and teammate, Fredrick Schwenke, taking 10th, both earning All-American status.  The region also took spots 11, 13, 16, and 21, by Northern Michigan and Alaska, for the second-strongest showing among the three skiing regions.

Schommer battled a slow pair of skis as the track warmed and the structure pressed into his skis picked up dirt. 

"I could see it at four kilometers already that the skis weren't what we needed them to be," according to Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "My heart kind of sank, but Paul battled back from 32nd at about the spot to 25th by the finish. He looked fit, but the skis were too much to overcome for sure."

Salmela tested structures he could press into the glide zones of the skis to deal with the moisture in the snow that has been a factor all week as the temperatures reach the mid 50's daily at the venue. 

"One of the two structure patterns I applied to the ski just picked up too much dirt, even though I thought after Wednesday's tests that it wouldn't," explained Salmela.  "I think if you consider the skis cost him at least a minute, probably more, and how well the guys he's rubbed shoulders with all year did today, and the fact Paul felt he physically had his best classic race of the season, it adds up to a missed opportunity in a big way on a technical detail I missed on.  That's a tough one for me to swallow, since Paul more than did his part."

Salmela is enthused at Schommer's fitness and the result based on the circumstances looking forward to Saturday's 20km freestyle. 

"While today hurts a bit, it could be much worse," opined Salmela.  "Paul could feel awful, but he feels the strongest he's felt all year. I think the circumstances going into Saturday, with a much higher seed in freestyle coupled with a likely earlier start, the equipment prep has a lower likelihood of backfiring as it did today. While today is tough to swallow looking at what we could have done, we have a lot to look forward for Saturday, and we collectively are determined to make it happen.  We go right back to work to make sure the equipment performs Saturday."

The Saints will end their 2014 campaign Saturday when Schommer competes in the men's 20km freestyle mass start at the NCAA Skiing Championships.