RESULTS

CABLE, Wis. (csssaints.com) - St. Scholastica senior Sharmila Ahmed (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS) had herself in position for another top five Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) finish, but a rut on the final downhill dropped her to seventh in a time of 35:50.0 in the women's 10km freestyle mass start Sunday to lead a strong team race by the Saints at the Telemark Chase.

Jordan Ross of Northern Michigan trailed most of the race behind Michigan Tech's Alice Flanders, but overtook her in the final kilometer to win in a time of 34:11.0, with Flanders crossing the line in 34:23.0. Northern Michigan's Megan Edic rounded out the podium in 35:15.0. 

Sophomore Ellie Evans (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) posted her best CCSA finish by a stretch in 12^th, in a time of 36:29.0. Senior Liz Peterson (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) rounded out the Saints scoring with a great race of her own in 14^th in a time of 37:09.0, but just outsprinting teammate Anita Kirvesniemi (Simpele, Finland/Joensuun Yhteiskoulun Lukio (New Mexico)) who finished in the same second for 15^th. The Saints finished third as a team behind Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech.

Ahmed started slowly, but charged from 10^th into the top five on the final lap, gapping sixth and seventh at the top of the final climb only to lose the hard fought uphill battle to a rut in the snow on the final descent to the finish. "I didn't see anything," said Ahmed. "I was in a tuck and then I was on the ground." 

Saints head coach Chad Salmela wasn't concerned about the fall. "Sharmila keeps finding her biggest gears at the end of the races and that is a safe place to be this time of year. Sure, the fall is kind of a bummer, but she knows she made a great move when the race mattered, and that's what I take away from the race. It wasn't a hugely critical fall for her or the team. You just have to be happy with the great move she made up that final hill. I liked that a lot." 

With four skiers in the top 15, it was the team's depth of performance that really had Salmela excited about the day. "Ellie just blew things open for herself today," glowed Salmela. "Days like this change an athlete's belief in what is possible within themselves and I think that's true of Ellie's race today. But what was awesome to see was the pack of our skiers at the front of the field with Liz having an outstanding day and Anita right with her. It was just a fun day to be the coach of this team."

The Saints head to Minneapolis' 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.