ISHPEMING, Mich. (csssaints.com) -- Reitler Hodgert (Bend, Ore./Summit HS ) became only the second St. Scholastica men's skier and the fourth skier in program history to land on an NCAA Central Regional Championships podium, when he finished third in the men's 10 kilometer freestyle at Al Quaal Park Saturday.  In what was at once a blowout and tight race for the podium spots, Hodgert came up just two-tenths of a second shy of the second rung of the podium, with a time of 25:41.2.

Jake Brown of Northern Michigan started fast and just kept pulling away to win in a time of 24:36.6, over a minute faster than Hodgert and second place finisher, Kyle Hanson of Michigan Tech who narrowly edged Hodgert in 25:41.0.

Jake Richards (Callaway, Minn./Detroit Lakes HS ) and Joe Dubay (Coon Rapids, Minn./Andover HS) finished 15th and 16th in 27:15.8 and 27:20.7 respectively to round out the scoring for the Saints. The Saints finished in a tie for fourth with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Hodgert started slow, sitting in 13th at the two kilometer mark. "I felt terrible starting," said Hodgert. "I just felt sluggish and couldn't go. I was kind of freaking out." 

But as the first of two five kilometer loops came to a close, Hodgert's energy changed. From that point, the only skier in the field faster than Hodgert was Brown. He clocked in fifth at 7.5 kilometers, 12.3 seconds down to Hanson in second. Hodgert skied the final half lap dead even with Brown and charged to within a fraction of a second of Hanson.

"I thought it was over before it began when he came through 2.5k in 13th, that far back," said Salmela, of Hodgert's gap of over 20 seconds to Brown and over 10 seconds to most of the favorites. "I felt this was the day Reitler could sew up NCAAs, and I just sank with that first split, bracing already a day early for a nail biter in the 20k."  

But skier after skier slowed and Hodgert sped up, and the NCAA picture improved, to the point at the finish he did something historical for the Saints and all but punched his ticket to NCAAs. "Statistically, what he did today does not happen with that opening split. That's pretty cool he turned it around like he did. Even better, I think Reitler expected he'd do something like this in classic, not freestyle. That makes it even more special."

Hodgert joins Paul Schommer (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly HS) ('15) as the only Saints male skier to stand on an NCAA Central Regionals podium, matches Sharmila Ahmed's ('15) 3rd place in the 2015 five kilometer freestyle. After Kelsey Dickinson's second place earlier in the day in the women's five kilometer freestyle, Hodgert became only the fourth Saint to reach a Regionals podium, and put Saturday in the record books as the Saints' most competitive day at an NCAA Regionals.

The NCAA Central Regional Championships wrap up with the men's 20km classical mass start tomorrow.