RESULTS

HOUGHTON, Mich. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica women's nordic ski team competed in the freestyle sprints on Saturday as part of the Pre-U.S. Nationals CXC Cup on the Michigan Tech Trails.
 
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
First-year skier Maja Petersson (Solleftea, Sweden/Solleftea Gymnasium) led the Saints in qualifying with the 16^th-best time in the field. Emma Stertz (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids HS), Nicole Gilman (Manitowish Waters, Wis./Lakeland Union HS) and Mae Barnes (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) also qualified to the quarterfinals.
 
Petersson would also have the fastest time of the four CSS qualifiers in the quarterfinals, but none would advance to the semifinals.
 
Petersson finished 15^th overall, followed by Stertz in 22^nd, Barnes in 24^th and Gilman in 26^th.
 
Up Next
The Saints will compete in the 10km classic race tomorrow (Sunday) beginning at 10 a.m. (ET).