MINNEAPOLIS (csssaints.com) - The St. Scholastica men's skiing team held a tenuous five-point lead for the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) conference championship title going into the final day of four races that determine the event and came away with a landmark day in which they placed its three scoring skiers in the top 12, to distance itself over Michigan Tech, its closest pursuers.

On the day, the men took second to what is one of the premier men's teams in all NCAA skiing, Northern Michigan University, with NMU one point shy of perfect with 68 points. It was the Saints' Paul Schommer (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly HS) who broke through the Wildcat juggernaut at the top of the results with a third place finish 20:01.8, behind event winner, Erik Soderman in 19:27.2, and Fredrik Schwenke in second with 19:29.5.

But Schommer was not the only story of the day as Reitler Hodgert (Bend, Ore./Summit HS ) kept his NCAA championship hopes very much alive in seventh with a time of 20:41.6, and Calvin Mehrhof (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids HS ) coming home with an 12^th place and personal CCSA-best finish in a time of 21:04.3. The tally for the Saints was 56, six better than Alaska with 51, and 11 better than the Huskies with 45. 

The day would lift the Saints to the conference title by 16 points over the Huskies, bringing the Butch Reimer Cup to St. Scholastica's trophy case for a year, alongside the women's title.

"Winning both men's and women's CCSA Championships is a huge step forward for our ski program," glowed Saints head coach Chad Salmela. It was the final day that Salmela felt showed the mettle of his championship team. "I really was impressed with our men today," reacted Salmela. "I think our guys just rose to the occasion on a day that they had to perform to make history. I get goosebumps thinking about it. Calvin in 12^th is just a huge, huge day for him and the kind of race he can put in the memory bank for life. It's the kind of thing an athlete can dream of doing—making it happen when you need it to win a championship. And the whole team, scorers and non-scorers, all made me so proud today. Doing what we did today just makes the title we won so much sweeter because it was a championship performance by our guys. No doubt about it."

With only one more weekend of NCAA qualifying action, the weekend went a long way as well to securing NCAA Championship berths for the Saints. Both Schommer and Hodgert made strong cases with their performances, which alleviates a bit of pressure on both as they head into the NCAA Central Regional Championships hosted by Northern Michigan in Ishpeming, Michigan, February 28-March 1. The NCAA Skiing Championship qualifiers will be announce March 2.