RESULTS

DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – First-year skier Mae Barnes (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) was fast all day on Sunday and led the St. Scholastica women's nordic ski team by capturing the 1.4km classic sprint event at the Grand Avenue Nordic Center.
 
Sprint Racing Format
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.
 
How it Happened
After a delayed start due to the frigid temperatures, the Saints showed a lot of strength in qualifying, posting four of the top 11 times. First-year skier Mae Barnes (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) had the top qualifying time in the field at 4:16, which was 12 seconds faster than anyone else. In total, CSS had seven skiers advance to the quarterfinal heats.
 
Barnes went on to win her quarterfinal heat, as did fellow first-year skier Emma Stertz (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids HS). Sophomore Rana Kraftson (Bayport, Minn./Stillwater HS) finished second in Stertz' heat to also advance to the semifinals. Annika Viren (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids HS), who finished third in Barnes' heat would edge out teammate Gwinna Remillard (Vassalboro, Maine/Waterville HS) by time to advance to the semifinals.
 
Barnes kept it rolling by winning her semifinal heat. In that same heat, Stertz and Kraftson also advanced to the finals on time.
 
With three Saints in the finals, Barnes remained perfect on the day, winning over teammate Stertz by three seconds to take the sprint crown. Kraftson finished fifth overall.
 
Up Next
The Saints will be in action again next weekend when they head over to Houghton, Michigan to take part in the Michigan Tech University CXC Cup event.