WINONA, Minn. — It took a little longer than he had hoped, but Saint Mary’s University cross country ski coach Ben Popp finally got his team on the trails last weekend.

And the Cardinals’ first-year head coach couldn’t be happier with what he saw.

“I thought we did very well, considering this was not only the first competition for us, but really, the first time we had been on snow all year,” admitted Popp, who spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Carleton, where his men’s team captured the USCSA national championship, while the women’s team finished third overall. “A lot of the teams that were at this meet have already had a couple of meets under their belts, so in that respect, we are little behind.

“But for only being on skis for two days, I was pleased with our performance.”

Freshman Garrick Holey (Irondale, Minn.) led the Cardinals to a fourth-place showing in the 15-kilometer freestyle race, clocking a time of 40:50.4. Mark Bolster (Kasson, Minn.) finished in 41:1.1, followed by Caleb Grace (Duluth, Minn.) (41:12.6), Pete Schweich (Red Wing, Minn.) (43:03.7), Mike Uffenbeck (Drummond, Wis.) (43:39.5), Joe Thompson (Lake City, Minn.) (49:17.1) and Jason Siverson (Stillwater, Minn.) (55:14.9).

Grace led the way in the 10K classical race with a time of 33:16.3. Holey was second in 35:52.9, followed by Bolster (36:07.6), Schweich (38:10.6), Thompson (38:48.2), Uffenbeck (39:27.9) and Siverson (41:48.3).

On the women’s side, Amy Henjum (Woodbury, Minn.) was the Cardinals’ top skier in both the 10K freestyle (31:16.5) and the 5K classical (21:21.2). Missy Mollick (Hastings, Minn.) was the second Cardinal across the finish line in both races (33:26.5, 22:35.2), followed by Reghan LaFrance (Duluth, Minn.) (34:55.8, 24:25.7) and Colleen Bourque (Waukesha, Wis.) (39:10.7, 26:12.5).

“There’s still plenty of room for improvement,” admitted Popp. “But it was a good start. I think we are still right where we want to be in regards to what our end goals are for the season.”