BIWABIK, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University nordic ski teams finished their seasons the same way they started them — far away from home.

SMU took part in the Central Collegiate Ski Association Regional Championships last weekend at Giants Ridge, a mere 319-mile trek — one way — in what proved to be the closest meet of the season for the road-weary Cardinals.

"It was a tough winter," admitted SMU coach John Skemp, whose men's team — all one skier of it — placed 10th overall at the CCSA Championship, while the women's team was 11th. "With no snow, we had to do a lot of traveling — 700 miles was the closest — just to find a place where we could compete. We weren't able to get in a lot of training, and that made it tough."

Ben Hanson (Hastings, Minn.) was the lone Cardinal competing in the men's event, clocking a time of 46:28 to finish 34th in the 10-kilometer classic event, then adding a time of 1:03:35 for 32nd in the 20K freestyle.

On the women's side, Missy Mollick (Hastings, Minn.) was 26th in the 15K freestyle (:48:26) and 36th in the 5K classic (:21:56), while Rachel Lundell (Golden Valley, Minn.) was 43rd in the classic (:23:11) and 47th in the freestyle (1:00:28).

"I thought we skied OK," said Skemp. "Missy had a great (freestyle race), and that was good to see. Overall, I was pleased with our performance."