MEN'S RESULTS | WOMEN'S RESULTS
HOUGHTON, Mich. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica nordic ski teams opened competition at the U.S. Championships on Thursday with the Freestyle Sprints on the Michigan Tech University 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.
Top Men's Performances
The only Saint to advance past the qualifying stage was sophomore
Gus Schatzlein (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake HS), but that would be in the Junior Division. Schatzlein went on to win his quarterfinal heat in the junior division, but then finished fourth in the semifinals to end his day.
Sophomore
Emil Book Bratbak (Asgardstrand, Norway/Lillehammer) led the team in qualifying with a time of 3:21.27 to finish 37
th overall. Junior
Tamer Mische-Richter (Bloomington, Minn./John F. Kennedy HS) was 45
th overall with a time of 3:22.62. Junior
Ryan Steger (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) was next with a time of 3:25.46 to finish 63
rd overall. Schatzlein would finish 75
th overall.
Top Women's Performances
No Saints advanced to the knockout round with first-year skier
Maja Petersson (Solleftea, Sweden/Solleftea Gymnasium) leading the way in 61
st with a time of 4:03.72. Senior
Nicole Gilman (Manitowish Waters, Wis./Lakeland Union HS) was 79
th with a time of 4:09.73.
Freshman
Mae Barnes (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) was 104
th, sophomore
Rana Kraftson (Bayport, Minn./Stillwater HS) 106
th and junior
Samantha Benzing (Boise, Idaho/Boise HS) 108
th to round out the Saints competing on Thursday.
Up Next
Racing continues tomorrow (Friday) with the freestyle individual start races. The women's 10km race begins at 9:30 a.m. (ET) and the men's 15km race begins at 12:30 p.m. (ET).
