RESULTS

CABLE, Wis. (csssaints.com) – Senior Anita Kirvesniemi (Simpele, Finland/Joensuun Yhteiskoulun Lukio (New Mexico)) continued leading the St. Scholastica women skiers in the classic technique, finishing ninth in the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) five kilometer women's classic at the Telemark Chase Saturday in a time of 19:24.9.  Fellow senior Sharmila Ahmed (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS) stopped the clock just 4.2 seconds slower in 19:28.9 to take 10th in the CCSA.
 
Michigan Tech had a landmark day, led by recently-appointed U.S. Under-23 World Championship team member, Deedra Irwin, who won in 18:41.7. Felicia Gesior of Northern Michigan finished second in 19:01.1, just six-tenths of a second ahead of Alaska's Nichole Bathe, in 19:01.7. It was MTU to prevail for the first time this season taking spots four and six as well as Irwin's win. Northern Michigan finished second and Alaska finished third.
 
The Saints ended up fourth with senior captain Liz Peterson (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) posting her best full-field CCSA finish in 16th with a time of 20:09.2. The Saints also put five skiers in the top 20 of the CCSA field.
 
"Overall, a really solid day," according to Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "We skied quite well within the field."  
 
The race was a tight one with just a few seconds separating several places throughout the field, and Salmela liked where the team finished.  
 
"When a race is that tight, the team standings can really be volatile. We had a great tie with Tech at U.S. Nationals a week ago in the  20km classic, so the team results seem at first like a little bit worse, but the full field was not there and the race was so tight today, that we can't be fixated on the team's placing. What I liked is the team's proximity to the front of the field in their actual race times, having five athletes kind of in it today looking at it that way. It's a great full team performance if you look under the hood a bit. Just the semantics of team scoring hide that a bit. I'm so proud of where our women's team is. We've come a long, long way in a few years."
 
The Saints continue at the Telemark Chase Sunday with at 10km freestyle mass start.