RESULTS

HOUGHTON, Mich. (csssaints.com) - St. Scholastica junior Joe Dubay (Coon Rapids, Minn./Andover HS) posted a career-best finish at the U.S. National Championships with a 41^st place finish overall and a 10th place finish in what was a spectacular showing by the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) in the men's 15km freestyle Sunday.

Northern Michigan wowed the country as Kyle Bratrud gave the entire field—including four-time Olympian Kris Freeman—a drubbing, winning his first U.S. National Championship title in a time of 42:01.6. Freeman, who has been a fixture on the U.S. National team for over a decade, could only muster a time 50 seconds slower than Bratrud to take the silver medal in 42:51.6. Dartmouth College's Patrick Caldwell finished just 2.6 seconds out of the second spot to claim third in a time of 52:54.3.

In what will go down as a red letter day in the history of Wildcat men's skiing, the NMU skiers following Bratrud's big win took spots 5, 13, 16, and 24 overall, to place 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th, and 7^th in the CCSA NCAA qualifier. 

Dubay started conservatively and charged hard the second of two 7.5km laps to finish just outside the top 40 overall in 41^stwith a time of 45:54.0. Senior Paul Schommer (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly HS) finished 67^th overall and 16^th in the CCSA qualifier with a time of 46:43.5, while sophomore Reitler Hodgert (Bend, Ore./Summit HS ) finished 88^th overall and 19^th in the CCSA with a time of 23:00.6 to round out CCSA team scoring for the Saints. The Saints finished third as a team to Northern Michigan and second place Alaska Fairbanks.

"We had a pretty solid day overall," said Saints Head Coach Chad Salmela. "It's hard to get so thoroughly pummeled by NMU, but hey they are on fire not just against the CCSA but the nation, so we just have to take what we can get, but it sure makes you proud of your region when you put a guy in 41^st overall and he's still 10^th in the conference." 

Salmela believes the CCSA men's field is the toughest this year of his tenure and that the results today prove that. "It's early in the NCAA season and I think our guys are skiing great for the time of year and what we normally do, but the region was represented by three different schools in the top 20, five in the top 41.  That's a great sign for skiing strength in our conference.  I've certainly never seen it this good."

The Saints will compete in the 1.5km Classic Sprint, that was moved to Tuesday due to the forecasted cold temperatures for Monday.