HOUGHTON, Mich. (csssaints,com) -- St. Scholastica's
Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash./Liberty Bell HS) bounced back from a disappointing freestyle race last week at Telemark to take sixth in the Michigan Tech Invitational 5km freestyle on Saturday.
Dickinson led at 3.5km among those starting before her, but strong finishes by late starters from Northern Michigan would drop her to sixth by the finish with a time of 15:12.9. She was the first skier on the results not from Northern Michigan.
Felicia Gesior proved that the 5km freestyle is her race to lose in the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA), winning in 14:32.3, a resounding 17.5 seconds faster than teammate Vivian Hett. Sophie Schimpl took third in 14:58.4.
Despite falling at a very inopportune time at the bottom of a fast downhill,
Ellie Evans (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) skied her way into 13
th in 16:12.4, while
Allison Ternes (Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) took 15
th in 16:36.5 to round out the Saints scoring. The Saints finished third behind NMU and Michigan Tech.
"I was happy with what I saw in effort and race form today," said Saints head coach
Chad Salmela. "It hurts to lose to rival Michigan Tech, but Ellie and Kelsey looked great and were skiing competitively and Allison looked the strongest in skating yet this year."
A fall on the first fast downhill by both Evans and
Chelsey Youngberg (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) scrubbed most of their early speed and cost them dearly according to Salmela. "When you fall, rule of thumb is you lose 20 seconds. Do it where you are going fast and carrying speed, and it's more. We prep a lot for the physical piece of skiing, but downhills are a big part of the race too. In a 5km you just can't make up the kind of time Ellie and Chelsey lost today, and you're left with 'what-ifs.' But their energy and power on the rest of the course was encouraging and not apparent in the results. That's just ski racing!"
Dickinson's performance removed a big question mark left over from Telemark where she finished 14
th well off the pace in freestyle. "I thought Kelsey looked strong last weekend, but the result didn't match the energy I saw," said Salmela. "We thought we had some ski issues we needed to address based on everybody else being psyched with their ski speed last weekend, but Kelsey certainly not having the same experience. Today, we had good skis on her feet, and boom! Right there with the best in the region."
Salmela says this sets his mind at ease in the hunt for an NCAA berth. "Kelsey's a biathlete (biathletes only skate) who classic skis really well, but last weekend concerned me for the NCAA bid with freestyle. I'm way more at ease after today. Fitness is good. We figured out skis. Good step forward."
The Saints end action in Houghton on
Sunday, with at 15km mass start classic.
