HOUGHTON, Mich. (csssaints.com) -- St. Scholastica's Reitler Hodgert (Bend, Ore./Summit HS ) made it two straight top-10s in Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Freestyle events Saturday at the Michigan Tech Invitational, finishing ninth in a time of 27:35.3. Northern Michigan swept the top three with Ian Torchia taking first in 25:50.8, Adam Martin second in 26:18.9, and Jake Brown third in 26:19.6.

Ryan St. Clair (Bend, Ore./Summit HS (Walla Walla)) narrowly missed a top-10 in 11^th, with a time of 28:04.9, while Chris Parr (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) rounded out the Saints scoring in 13^th in 28:17.4. The Saints finished third with 62 points to Michigan Tech in second with 64. NMU won with a perfect 78 points.

"We're moving in the right direction in freestyle," said Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "We got pummeled in freestyle last weekend and we tightened up our team effort against Tech, but still came up a couple points shy. Regardless, it's the right direction."

With NCAA Championship berths on the line, Salmela sees particularly the freestyle days as critical to perform if Saints men want to be represented in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in March. "I think if you look at our best chances in Chris and Reitler, they can ski at the front week in and week out in classic. It's going to take outskiing a few Green Bay and Michigan Tech skiers over the season in key freestyle races to earn a bid. Today was a step for both of those guys towards that end."

The Saints end action in Houghton, Sunday, with at 20km mass start classic.