Cardinal women save best for last;
place 6th in 5K at Regional meet

WINONA, Minn. — It was the best race of the season for the Saint Mary’s University women’s nordic ski team.

And it couldn’t happen at a better time.

The Cardinals turned in their strongest overall performance of the season last Saturday, placing sixth in the 12-team field in the 5-kilometer freestyle race at the NCAA Regional Championships at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minn.

“The women’s race on Saturday was by far their best of the season,” said SMU coach Ben Popp, noting that the Cardinals beat four of the other five Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools competing in the race. “It was good to see them ski so well.”

Amy Henjum (Woodbury, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, clocking a 5K time of 18:14, while teammate Missy Mollick (Hastings, Minn.) was close behind in 18:39 — the second-fastest time by a freshman skier in the competition. Reghann LaFrance (Duluth, Minn.) and Colleen Bourque (Waukesha, Wis.) rounded out the Cardinals’ skiers, posting times of 20:48 and 22:12, respectively.

In the 15K classic race, Henjum was again the Cardinals’ top skier, posting a time of 57:50. Mollick added a 1:01:16, followed by Bourque (1:05:11) and LaFrance (1:06:04).

On the men’s side, Mark Bolster (Kasson, Minn.), Garrick Holey (Irondale, Minn.) and Caleb Grace (Duluth, Minn.) finished 1-2-3 for the men in the 10K freestyle with times of 27:28, 27:37 and 27:39. respectively. Pete Schweich (Red Wing, Minn.) (29:13), Mike Uffenbeck (Drummond, Wis.) (30:57) and Joe Thompson (Lake City, Minn.) (31:39) rounded out the SMU lineup.

In the 20K classic race, Grace led the way with a time of 59:46, followed by Bolster (1:03:22), Holey (1:05:53), Thompson (1:07:15), Uffenbeck (1:09:41) and Schweich (1:10:49).

“The men did not have as good a race as they were hoping for, but all in all, I was pleased with our effort,” said Popp. “I thought everyone worked hard all season and continued to improve with every race.

“The first season with a new coach is always a learning experience,” continued Popp. “Now everyone has an idea of what I expect, and, hopefully, they realize the kind of off-season training they need to do if they hope to continue to improve.”