ISHPEMING, Mich. (csssaints.com) -- Fresh off a second-place finish in the 5km Freestyle Saturday at the NCAA Central Regional Championships, and clearly exhibiting great form, St. Scholastica's Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash./Liberty Bell HS) toyed with the idea for going off the front early for the win, in the 15km Classic Mass Start, Sunday. But down the stretch, she fought to cross the line eighth, in a time of 54:32.8.

Andrea Lee of Michigan Tech shot off the front in the third and final lap to ski away with the victory in 53:37.3. Alaska's Nichole Bathe crossed second in 53:53.5, while her teammate, Anne-Tine Markset rounded out the podium in 53:56.5.

Joining Dickinson with an All-Region performance for a second day in a row, Ellie Evans (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Cooper HS) charged late into 10^th spot in a time of 55:14.5. Allison Ternes (Vadnais Heights, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) stayed with the lead group early and crossed the line in 14^th in 56:51.5 to round out the Saints scoring.

"I kept going off the front [without trying to] on the downhills," said Dickinson. "It was pretty slow [at the start, and] kind of hard not to lead early. I kept wondering if I should just go for it."  In the end when the pace did quicken, it was too much for Dickinson to match as the first five skiers gapped the rest of the field going into the final of three laps, with Lee dominating the final kilometers.

"We skied really well as a team," glowed Saints head coach Chad Salmela. "The conditions were just really difficult with big chunks of ice and almost no tracks with the freeze overnight from slush, then new snow over it. It was a waxing challenge for sure. It was just weird, challenging conditions, and we kept our composure and did great. That's all you can ask for as a coach."

The Saints held a slim one-point lead on Michigan Tech for the final team podium spot after day one's 5km freestyle. Salmela was keeping track of that team race within a race the whole time. "We were so solid in the first lap with Kelsey leading the group and looking great, and Ellie and Allison right on the back of the pack. It looked early like we were going to be on the podium as a team with only Lee in the lead group [for Tech]"

But as the pace quickened, the pack strung out, and it was Lee who strung it out, gaining a huge advantage for the Huskies team score by crossing first and building a nice point's cushion. A tight race between the Saints' and Huskies' second and third finishers looked to fall in favor of the Saints, but the Huskies scored just enough to supplant the Saints by two points on the day, and an aggregate one point on the weekend, to take the final trophy behind NMU and Alaska-Fairbanks.

"That's sport," said Salmela. "The results don't add up until it's over, and you just have to tip your hat to another great year of rivalry with Tech. I think we skied great today as a team and we came up a point shy. It doesn't change that we had a great day out there."

Dickinson solidified what was already a foregone conclusion on a berth for the 2016 NCAA Skiing Championships. She will join Reitler Hodgert as the seventh and eighth Saints skiers to ski in the championship.  Dickinson is the third Saints woman to do so.

Dickinson's imminent nomination to the NCAA Championship will be official February 29^th when the NCAA announces all qualifiers nationally. It keeps the Saints ski season alive for another three weeks, but the Regionals brings to an end Chelsey Youngberg (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS)'s time in the Saints uniform.

"It's going to be weird not having Chelsey around," said Salmela. "She has been a scoring staple of our team for all four seasons and she's going to leave a big hole that needs to be filled. It's nice that she scored right into the final weekend for us. It has been fun to watch Chelsey grow into her skiing, but more importantly into a strong young woman. I'll miss her for sure. We all will."

The NCAA Skiing Championships are next for Dickinson, March 9-12, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, hosted by the University of Colorado, pending official nomination from the Central Region.