BIWABIK, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University nordic ski teams were supposed to have the "home field advantage" for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, which were scheduled to be held on the SMU trails.

Some home field advantage.

Thanks to Mother Nature deciding to bypass winter and move straight on to spring in southern Minnesota, the Cardinals — like everyone else in the MIAC — had to travel to Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minn., to find enough snow to compete on.

The Cardinals' home away from home suited Missy Mollick (Hastings, Minn.) just fine, as the SMU sophomore placed 13th overall in both the 10K freestyle and 5K classical races to lead SMU to a fifth-place team finish.

Mollick stopped the clock in :32:20 in Saturday's freestyle event, then turned in a time of 19:43 in Sunday's classical race. Rachel Lundell (Golden Valley, Minn.) was 23rd in the freestyle race (:35:22) and 23rd in the classical (:22:08), while Erin Ida (Baraboo, Wis.) was 29th in both the freestyle (:46:19) and classical (:24:26).

On the m en's side, Garrick Holey (Mounds View, Minn.) clocked a :48:51 to place 18th in the 15K freestyle, while Ben Hanson (Hastings, Minn.) was 20th in both the freestyle (:51:53) and the 10K classical (:42:24).

"I thought we skied very well," said SMU coach John Skemp. "Missy turned in great times in both races, and everyone else did a nice job. It was a good meet for us."