RESULTSLAKE PLACID, N.Y. (csssaints.com) --
Anita Kirvesniemi (Simpele, Finland/Joensuun Yhteiskoulun Lukio (New Mexico)) reset the bar to a new height for St. Scholastica women's skiing in the NCAA Skiing Championships 15km mass start classic Friday, crossing the line in 18th place in a time of 50:25.3. The performance eclipsed
Sharmila Ahmed (Burnsville, Minn./Burnsville HS)'s 5km freestyle and high water mark for Saints women in 23rd, set Wednesday on the same course. Ahmed crossed the line in 29th in 52:22.4.
Two skiers broke away by over a minute to claim the first two spots, with Emilie Cedarvaern of New Mexico taking the title in a sprint for the win in a time of 47:40.3. Wednesday's 5km freestyle champion, Veronika Mayerhofer of Utah finished just 1.5 seconds back in second with a time of 47:41.8. It took nearly a minute and 10 seconds longer to claim the final spot on the podium for Sylvia Nordskar of Denver.
Kirvesniemi started with her typical strategy of not getting too revved up in the early going, but was able to maintain contact with a long strung lead pack through the first of three 5 kilometer loops, while Ahmed chose to start slow and pick off spots from behind. Kirvesniemi sat in 24th, while Ahmed was in 36th through the first loop.
As the pace quickened, the field began to spread out, and both Saints skiers started a slow creep forward on the field. Heading into the final loop, Kirvesniemi sat in 20th and Ahmed sat only one place further up the results, but was only 10 seconds from a top-30 finish going into the final five kilometers.
Both Saints had a strong final lap and Kirvesniemi edged Michigan Tech's Deedra Irwin at the finish line by .1 seconds, after trailing by five seconds with just 300 meters to go. "I told myself 'I will NOT lose to Deedra'," said Kirvesniemi of her battle for the 18th spot.
For the second straight day, the Saints put both women in the top 30 when no Saints woman had finished better than 36th coming into the Championship.
"NCAA Championship tone is hard to set as the coach of a DIII skiing program," said Saints head coach
Chad Salmela. "Every skier for us here is capable of a top-10 finish with an awesome race, but with a bad race, it's very easy to be dead last or close to it. The field is small and good, to a person. Most teams here can claim the same, so the tone of expectation is challenging."
All things considered, Salmela was quite happy with the women's performance today and through the championship. "I think Anita particularly was hoping for more, and that's a legitimate outlook for her, but from my perspective it could have gone just as much worse today as it could have gone better for her, and Sharmila has been fighting a cold since middle of last week. I'm not sure we can ask for more. We raised the bar significantly this week for our women's program with all four performances surpassing our previous best coming in. I don't know how we can be disappointed with that even with our very very best as a standard."
Both skiers end their careers having set the high mark at NCAAs in the freestyle and classic techniques respectively, and are the only two Saints women to date to compete at the Championship. "The impact of both skiers is profound on the trajectory and history of this ski team," waxed Salmela. "I'm so proud of both of them and incredibly proud to have been their coach and have had them represent our institution. We will miss them a lot and have a high mark to shoot for in the future."
