DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's and women's nordic ski teams will race in Minnesota this weekend in the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Championships which will take place within the Minneapolis JNQ at Theodore With Park.
 
Where:
Theodore Wirth Park – Minneapolis, Minn.
 
When:
Saturday
Men's 20km Classic – 9 a.m.
Women's 15km Classic – 10:50 a.m.
Saturday
Women's 5km Freestyle – 8:30 a.m.
Men's 10km Freestyle – 10 a.m.
 
Live Results: http://www.superiortiming.com/
 
Social Media:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/CSSsaints   
Instagram: www.instagram.com/css_skiing
Facebook: www.facebook.com/csssaints 
 
What You Need to Know:
Men
-The men's team has three skiers currently in the top 10 of the CCSA point standings.
-Freshman Emil Book Bratbak (Lillehammer, Norway/Lillehammer) is the top Saint in sixth place overall and currently in a NCAA qualifying position.
-Tamer Mische-Richter (Bloomington, Minn./John F. Kennedy HS) is ninth and Nick Matelich (Bozeman, Mont./Bozeman HS (Montana State)) is 10^th.
-Book Bratbak has finished no worse than eighth in CCSA qualifiers thus far and is the only Saint to score in each of the last four races.
-Freshman Hannes Stenstrom (Are, Sweden/Are Skidgymnasium) is coming off back-to-back scoring events and has finished in the top in each of the last three races.
 
Women
 -Sophomore Samantha Benzing (Boise, Idaho/Boise HS) leads all CSS skiers in 10^th on the CCSA points list.
 -Benzing is the only Saint to score in each of the last four CCSA qualifying races.
 -A skier to watch on Saturday will be freshman Hannah Bettendorf (Duluth, Minn./Homeschooled), who has excelled in the classic races this season.
 -Bettendorf has posted top 6 finishes each of the last two race weekends in that technique.
 -Sophomore Cecelia Boyle (Oakdale, Minn./Tartan HS) has also scored for the team in each of the last two classic races.
-Junior Nicole Gilman (Manitowish Waters, Wis./Lakeland Union HS) has scored for the team in each of the last two freestyle races.
 
Last Year at the CCSA Championships: The women's team had its best finish at the conference championships since 2015, placing second for the weekend by edging Michigan Tech University by one point … Greta Jenkins (Palmer, Alaska/Colony HS) posted a career-best sixth-place finish in the 5km classic … The men's team finished third overall … Mische-Richter posted a pair of top-10 finishes on the weekend.
 
Looking Ahead: The Saints will have more race weekend to qualify skiers for the NCAA Ski Championships with the NCAA Central Region Championships next weekend in Houghton, Michigan.