12/10/06

The College of St. Scholastica opened their inaugural racing season at the Grandview XC Challenge on Saturday and Sunday in Bessemer, Michigan.

Saturday's event, a 1K Freestyle sprint race, was not an official collegiate format nor college series race, but nearly all of the Midwest's collegiate ski teams participated. Sunday's 5K Classic race marked the historic first time that St. Scholastica would be represented in the Nordic skiing arena.

Saints freshman Megan Holmes began her quest for a spot on the 2007 Midwest Junior Olympic Team (to be named in February 2007) by competing in the 1K Sprint Older Junior (OJ) category where she qualified sixth but settled for a final placing of 10th among 29 skiers. Teammate Nikki Duff made it into the OJ quarterfinals and finished 13th overall.

In Sunday's 5K Classic, Holmes and Duff found themselves racing against two-time Olympian Lindsay Weier of national power Northern Michigan University. Holmes raced to a 15th place finish among collegians in the event with a final time of 18 minutes, 47.13 seconds while Duff finished in 19:52.11 and in 20th place.

Weir from Northern Michigan ran away with the 5K title, out-skiing teammate Tami Kochen by 14 seconds in finishing first among the 105 competitors.

Saints head coach Chad Salmela said he was, "very proud of the team's first weekend of competition." As a brand new team in the Nordic collegiate skiing world, neither Salmela nor his skiers had any idea where the Saints might fall within the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) ranks prior to the weekend. "I didn't know what to expect," said Salmela. "Before this weekend, I had no real sense of how the CCSA skiers were skiing and where our skiers might stack up against them. This weekend showed me that we are coming out of the blocks as a truly legitimate and competitive Central Region NCAA skiing program."

The Saints' next competition will be the U.S. National Championships in Houghton, Michigan, January 3rd and 4th, 2007.