RESULTS

DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) - The St. Scholastica 1 relay team of Anita Kirvesniemi (Simpele, Finland/Joensuun Yhteiskoulun Lukio (New Mexico)), Ellie Evans (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) and Sharmila Ahmed (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS) led the Saints to their first ever CCSA Championship relay win Saturday at Duluth's Spirit Mountain Nordic Center in the women's 3x7km freestyle relay winning in a time of 49:02.0. The Saints also flexed their muscle taking third with CSS 2's Liz Peterson (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS), Chelsey Youngberg (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) and Allison Ternes (Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) finishing in a time of 50:23.5. 

What was billed to be tight race between Michigan Tech and the Saints, ended up being a bigger win than the Saints expected. The Huskies' Ulrika Axelsson started things right for Tech, tagging first just ahead of Kirvesniemi and Peterson, but an impressive burst by Evans in the second leg was too much for the Huskies Lisa Koenig, as well and CSS2's Youngberg, and the Huskies found themselves trailing both CSS teams at the second exchange.

CSS 1's Sharmila Ahmed (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS) started with a lead of 36.3 seconds over teammate Ternes of CSS 2, and a full 54.4 seconds ahead of Tech, in the race for the championship. However, the Huskies had 2014 NCAA All-American and perhaps the conference's top freestyle skier, Alice Flanders, in pursuit.

"I felt to ensure a win today, we needed a cushion on the final exchange," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "I wasn't ruling out pulling it off with Sharmila and Alice together at the exchange, but when you're up against Alice in a 7.5km freestyle, you just do the math. It's just going to take anyone in the CCSA a great day to beat her, and Sharmila is one of the few who could, but a cushion is nice." In the end, the cushion Evans gave Ahmed was great plenty as Flanders was only able to pull 2.8 seconds out of Ahmed in the final leg.

CSS 2 will be recognized, but not receive points toward the championship nor championship medals, but it's a point of pride for Salmela. "It was a great day for us," glowed Salmela. "Two teams in the top three is just more than you can anticipate. Really great skiing from everyone. Ellie really made the move of the race, and as it turned out, Sharmila would have had the form today to challenge Alice if it came to that, but it was easier on me for sure that it never did. Our second team was just awesome too, making it to the podium."

The relay is the first of four scoring events for the 2015 CCSA Championship team score, and the Saints gain a big advantage with a 69-point day over Tech's 60. Add to it that neither Northern Michigan nor Alaska sent teams to contend for points this weekend, and the Saints sit in very good position for the championship, one-quarter of the way into it.

The CCSA Championship Individual Sprint takes place Sunday at Spirit Mountain, with the conference championships concluding at Wirth Park with two distance races, Friday, February 13^th and Saturday February 14^th.