Complete Results

MIDWAY, Utah (csssaints.com) – Paul Schommer (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly HS) relied on late heroics in a mad dash for the finish line of the men's 20km freestyle mass start to post St. Scholastica's first All-American performance at the 2014 NCAA Skiing Championships, finishing eighth in a time of 44:01.6, just 11.6 seconds from the win and 1.3 seconds from the podium.

Colorado's Mads Ek Stroem won in a breakaway, finishing in 43:49.0.  Alaska's Max Olex, the seventh and final NCAA qualifier and lowest freestyle seed from the central region, surprised in second with a time of 43:56.3, while New Mexico's Mats Ruding Resaland won a pack sprint for third in 44:00.3.

The pace dawdled early with only three skiers dropping off the pace of the field after the first of four, five kilometer loops.  Schommer skied conservatively within the middle of the pack, never letting any gaps grow between his position and the leaders. 

At the beginning of the third lap, Thursday's champion, Rune Oedegaard of Colorado stepped up the pace, and the field began to shed people off the back.  Shortly after the main group came through for the bell lap, Oedegaard and Stroem gapped the main pack.  They continued to pull away through the final five kilometers, putting as much at 20 seconds on the chase group, of which Schommer remained a part of. 

With two kilometers left, Stroem dropped Oedegaard.  With Oedegaard clearly running out of gas, inspired Olex to bridge the gap into the second-to-last uphill.  Olex's move turned the chase pack of 14, which Schommer was clinging to at the rear, into a free for all for the podium and All-American spots, as the skiers plunged into the penultimate downhill.

The main climb of the course, Hermod's Hill, named after course designer, Hermod Bjoerkestol, who designed the course to decide head-to-head finishes in dramatic fashion for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, occurs just one kilometer from the finish and climbs roughly 100 feet bottom to top.  While Stroem continued to pull away, Olex used the speed of an impressive pair of well-performing skis to move past Oedegaard.  At the base of Hermod's Hill, Stroem and Olex were clear of the pack, but Oedegaard was swallowed up and spit out the back as the group accordioned into a traffic jam. 

Schommer skied into the main group, but was caught up in traffic; trying to find a hole anywhere he could to get past. 

"I just tried to be patient," said Schommer of the traffic on the climb. "I just tried to find holes and jump through." 

At the base of the climb, Schommer was 14th, but had weaved his way to ninth at the top of the climb.  By the bottom, he was back in traffic and 12th rounding the final turn and climb into the finish. 

With skiers skiing four and five wide coming into the finishing stretch, Schommer made perhaps the most important move of the race. 

"I saw the left lane coming out of the final turn and I just took it," recalled Schommer.  From that point he had moved to ninth, but continued to move up, crossing the line in a photo finish in a dead heat with seven other skiers, from 4th to 10th. 

"At first, I was freaking out because they posted results only through fifth, then paused," said head coach Chad Salmela. "They had (Northern Michigan's Kyle) Bratrud in fifth for a while, and I thought Paul was one or two behind him.  Turns out, it was (NMU's Fredrick) Schwenke who I thought was Bratrud, and they posted only those athletes they could discern a time and place for." 

With seven skiers in a single second, and nine within two seconds, the photo finishes took about five minutes to sort out.  When the dust settled, Schommer crossed eighth, just 1.3 seconds from the podium, but likewise, just 1.3 seconds from 12th.

"That was one of the most stressful races I've ever watched as a coach, but it was a fantastic finish," glowed Salmela.  "In an event like this, you always need a bit of luck.  I don't know what was lucky today for us other than Paul wasn't on the wrong side of that one second separating fourth from 10th."

The eighth spot also gets recognized with a National Championship individual trophy from the NCAA.

"That was a nice bonus too," according to Salmela.  "We get a lot of recognition with Paul being recognized in the prize ceremony.  It was great."

Besides being the Saints' first NCAA All-American skier in program history, he finished the NCAA Championships as the top Division III skier by a comfortable margin, taking top DIII spots in both races. 

"This was a team effort, brought home by Paul," asserted Salmela.  Schommer worked with professors prior to departure to make a pre-championship high altitude camp. Assistant coach Andre Watt rounded up skis that might work in the high temperatures, and accompanied Schommer to Utah, while Salmela was still returning from the Olympic Games, while assistant coach, Joshua Tesch used personal vacation to make coaching at the championships work for Schommer.  "It is so rewarding to work with such great athletes, coaches, and a supportive institution to bring about extraordinary things like this, in the name of the college."

The Saints season ends on a high note, with Schommer's All-American performance underscoring other firsts like first team win by the women's program, individual wins by Schommer and Sarah Allen, and trophies for both men's and women's teams at the conference and regional championships.  "It's been one incredible year for Saints skiing," concluded Salmela.