RESULTS

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (csssaints.com) -- St. Scholastica's Sharmila Ahmed (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS) and Anita Kirvesniemi (Simpele, Finland/Joensuun Yhteiskoulun Lukio (New Mexico)) posted the best finishes at the NCAA Skiing Championships for a Saints women's skier, finishing in 23rd and 29th respectively in the women's 5km freestyle on Wednesday.

Western schools took every one of the top 10 positions with Veronika Mayerhofer of the University of Utah topping the results in 14:21.4. Sylvia Nordskar of the University of Denver finished second in 14:34.6, while New Mexico's Emilie Cedarvaern rounded out the podium in 14:37.2, just one-tenth of a second ahead of Montana State's Cambria McDermott in fourth.

The race was extremely tight with one second separating three to five places at several points in the results.

Ahmed and Kirvesniemi both started conservatively, and at halfway were in 31st and 37th, respectively. Ahmed's split at that point had her only 11 seconds from 18th however. "I felt so bad for the first two kilometers," said Ahmed, who has been fighting low-grade cold symptoms for most of the week. "Then after [2.5km], I felt really good and could go."

The standings did a massive reshuffle as the course continued to climb and descend to the finish in very warm, wet snow conditions. Both Saints skiers improved significantly over the closing half of the course, with Ahmed ending up 23rd in 15:37.8, while Kirvesniemi claimed 29th in 15:51.9. Both finishes surpass Ahmed's previous-best NCAA finish of 36th in the 2013 NCAA Championship 15km freestyle.
 
"As a coach, you can only be happy with both skiers bettering the best ever performance by a Saints skier," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "Sharmila skied so well especially since she hadn't skied for four straight days prior to yesterday, just because she was fighting low energy with cold symptoms. If you consider that, 23rd is amazing and I'm so proud of her. On the flip side, it only begs the question 'what if,' had she been fully 100 percent health wise. I think she managed the situation like a pro."

Salmela was also impressed with Kirvesniemi's performance, citing a course and course conditions that were not advantageous to Kirvesniemi's strengths in freestyle. "If I could come up with a course and conditions that would be the absolute worst for Anita in a 5km skate, today was pretty close to it. However, the flip side is, you change this to a classic race and it's awesome for her. We approached prep for NCAAs as the 5km being a primer for Anita's classic race as well. When you take in all factors, Anita's 29th is alright with me. I'm very satisfied and think she is right where we want to be for Friday."

The Saints ski season and collegiate careers of both Ahmed and Kirvesniemi come to an end Friday with the NCAA Championship 15km classic mass start.