RESULTS

CABLE, Wis. (csssaints.com) – Sophomore Samantha Benzing (Boise, Idaho/Boise HS) and freshman Hannah Bettendorf (Duluth, Minn./Homeschooled) led the St. Scholastica women's nordic ski team in the classic sprint races at Saturday's Gitchi Gami Games, placing second and third, respectively.
 
Sprint Racing
In a sprint event, each athlete starts by trying to qualify by time, racing the sprint course against the clock. The fastest 30 times in the field advance to five quarterfinals in which the first two skiers across the line advance as well as the fastest two skiers from the quarterfinals who were not in the top two. The same happens in the semifinals, whittling the field down to six athletes in the finals to determine the winner and rank order. All skiers outside the top 30 end the day in the order they finished the qualifier.
 
Benzing & Bettendorf Make the Finals
Bettendorf posted the ninth-fastest qualifying time in the field at 4:10.99. Benzing would finish with the 24^th-best time at 4:21.46.
 
In the quarterfinals, both Bettendorf and Benzing would win their respective heats. Benzing won the second quarterfinal by three-tenths of a second with a time of 4:09.03. Bettendorf would win the fourth heat by 12 seconds with a time of 4:00.71. That was the second-fastest quarterfinal time in the field.
 
In the semifinals, Bettendorf would win her heat by just over a half second with a winning time of 4:00.57. That was the fastest time of the semifinal round. Benzing placed third in her heat, but her time of 4:06.83 would be enough to get into the finals.
 
In the finals, Lucinda Anderson of Loppet Racing had the fastest qualifying time in the field, then proceeded to win heats in the quarterfinals and semifinals, would cruise to a win in the finals with a time of 3:56.73. However, both Benzing and Bettendorf would be right behind Anderson battling for second and both virtually finished in a dead-heat for second with Benzing claiming the slightest of edges to take second at 3:59.35.
 
Other Qualifiers
Junior Nicole Gilman (Manitowish Waters, Wis./Lakeland Union HS) had the 15^th-best qualifying time at 4:15.99, sophomore Cecelia Boyle (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan HS) was 21^st at 4:19.52, freshman Rana Kraftson (Bayport, Minn./Stillwater HS) was 23^rd at 4:21.35 and sophomore Hanna Dahlberg (Ulricehamn, Sweden/Tingsholms School) was was 29^th at 4:24.75 to all qualify.
 
Dahlberg then finished second to Bettendorf in her quarterfinal heat to auto-qualify for the semifinals. Gilman and Boyle would both finish third in their quarterfinal heats, but advanced to the semifinals by time.
 
Those three skiers saw their runs end in the semifinals. Gilman finished eighth overall, Boyle ninth overall and Dahlberg 10^th overall. Kraftson would be 24^th overall.
 
Up Next
The Saints will take part in the 10km classic Sunday morning beginning at 10 a.m.