RESULTS

CABLE, Wis. (csssaints.com) - St. Scholastica senior Paul Schommer (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly HS) returned to the front of the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) field this season in the men's 15km freestyle mass start Sunday, crossing the finish in 43:15.0 to take third; his first CCSA podium of the season. 

Kyle Bratrud kept his string of wins alive, outskiing teammate and 2012 NCAA Champion, Erik Soderman, 42:38.0 to 42:49.0, respectively.

Sophomore Reitler Hodgert (Bend, Ore./Summit HS ) closed out his best collegiate skiing weekend with at CCSA 12^th place in a time of 42:24.0, while Calvin Mehrhof (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids HS ) continues to contribute hugely to the varsity efforts in 2015, finishing 18^th in the CCSA in 47:01.0 to round out the Saints scoring. The team finished third on the day behind Northern Michigan and Alaska.

Schommer started in control, but quickly allowed three Wildcats for NMU to break away in Bratrud, Soderman, and Adam Martin. Schommer chose to stay in control and ski 15 to 20 seconds back of the Wildcat trio with Alaska's Logan Hanneman and St. Olaf's Jake Brown. As Martin fell off the leader's pace, the Schommer group began to charge, sniffing a spot on the podium. With roughly three kilometers left in the race, Martin was swallowed up by the chasers. Schommer put in a hard charge in the final climb to put himself comfortably in third, two seconds ahead of Martin, with Brown fifth and Hanneman sixth. Hodgert, meanwhile, was posting his best collegiate freestyle race, bouncing around the field as high as eighth at one point before settling into 12^th in the college field.

Saints head coach felt the day was a little bit of a turning point to the storyline this season in the men's CCSA. While the Wildcats of NMU dominated once again, it was their proximity to Schommer that changed Sunday. "We've been seeing massive gaps from everyone in the CCSA to the NMU guys," said Salmela.  "(Alaska's) Hanneman has been the only CCSA skier really to break into the NMU realm in distance skiing until today. So from a psychological stand point, a couple of huge barriers were brought down today. One is that they aren't untouchable—still very strong and dominant, but not untouchable—and the second for Paul especially, is that he's going to ski well yet this season. Those are two big deals that changed for Paul today, and I think for a few other CCSA skiers too."

The Saints head to Minneapolis's Wirth Park for the Battle Creek JOQ and NCAA qualifier, that was moved from Battle Creek in St. Paul to Wirth due to lack of snow.