STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (csssaints.com) -- St. Scholastica's Kelsey Dickinson (Winthrop, Wash./Liberty Bell HS)'s excitement for the second of two NCAA championships—the classic mass start—waned Thursday night after a 33^rd place finish in the 5km freestyle that morning. By Friday morning, Dickinson was in the throws of an illness that left her energyless and clearly ill-prepared for ski racing at 6600 feet of altitude.

She slept on it two nights and the morning of the 15km mass start classic, her condition hadn't improved at all and perhaps even worsened, but she decided to finish her season and get on the start line nonetheless. To add insult to injury, temperatures climbed into the fifties and the sun came out, turning the 5km course into a slow, hot mess. Despite such adversity, Dickinson persevered to finish 36^th in a time of 1:02:02.7.    

Denver's Linn Eriksen skied to a comfortable win in 54:37.6—a winning time belying the course conditions at nearly 10 minutes slower than a normal 15km winning time. New Mexico's Kati Roivas took second in 54:57.5. Colorado's Ane Johnsen took third in 54:58.8.

Dickinson started at a comfortable pace and managed to be ahead of a handful of skiers the entire race. "That was rough," quipped Dickinson as head coach Chad Salmela helped her to her feet, shaking.

"That was a tough call," said Salmela of Dickinson's decision to race. "Normally there is no way I'd let a skier in her shape take the start." Salmela said he considered the down sides when advising Dickinson. "I reasoned that there didn't seem to be a huge health risk other than feeling low on energy. In the end, I left it up to her, noting there were no more important races left this year, she'd worked hard to get here, and besides the situation being far from ideal, it probably wasn't dangerous to her. I just told her if she starts, she has to be committed to finishing."

In the end, she finished, and even outskied several healthy athletes.

"It was sad, but I am so proud of her," said Salmela of Dickinson. "It took serious guts to do what she did today—to choke back her disappointment, go out there knowing what faced her, and doing what she did. It was very gutsy."

With an otherwise very strong central performance on the day with athletes Dickinson has been competitive against all season, it left open questions Salmela sees as motivation for Dickinson for the 2017 season. "Kelsey is so good at classic skiing and she already came so far, had great fitness coming in [to the championship], that the situation just opens up a lot of 'what ifs'. I think that will do a lot to motivate her for next season. She certainly can't let an illness dampen her resolve, and today showed that."

The NCAA Skiing Championships conclude the Saints' 2016 ski season.