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Ole Nordic Ski Teams Compete in CCSA

Fred Kueffer
February 27, 2001

This past weekend, the St. Olaf Nordic team competed in their last weekend of Central Collegiate Ski Association competition. These were the last NCAA Division I qualifying races for the men and women's teams, and both teams returned home with excellent results.

Highlighting the weekend were the individual performances of Jay Eidem (So., Bloomington, Minn.) and Sonja Bostrom (Jr., St. Paul, Minn.). Both qualified individually for the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 7-10 in Middlebury, Vermont. By qualifying for these championships, Eidem and Bostrom will be competing with the 37 best collegiate skiers in the country. This will be Eidem's first trip to the championships and Bostrom's second after her debut in Rumford, Maine in March 1999.

In their last weekend of collegiate competition, the seniors on both teams gave strong performances. In Saturday's classical technique races, Fred Kueffer (Shoreview, Minn.) and Brent Carlson (Stillwater, Minn.) led the men's team to a fourth place finish out of eight teams in the 10 kilometer classical race. Kueffer was the first Ole in 13th place, and Carlson was the 2nd Ole finisher in 16th place overall. On the women's side, Margie Tilman (St. Louis Park, Minn.) finished right behind Bostrom in the 5 kilometer event in 17th place, and even though she was battling illness, Dawn Youngren (Roseville, Minn.) finished in a strong 22nd place. The women finished fifth out of nine teams.

In Sunday's 20 kilometer freestyle event the men's team provided one of the best performances in team history. Lead by Eidem's 4th place finish, the Ole men were only beaten by Northern Michigan University, which is regarded as one of the top Division I teams in the country. Greatly helping the men's placement was Kevin Hochtl (Jr., Vail, Co.) performance. Kevin skied his best race of the season finishing in 7th place. Hochtl's performance displayed that he will be one of the top returning skiers in the central division for next season along with teammate Jay Eidem.

In Sunday's 15 kilometer freestyle event, the women's team also provided a strong performance finishing in 3rd place. Bostrom finished in 12th place and was followed closely by Margie Tilman in 14th and Hillary McCulloh in 15th. McCulloh's performances this year will also include her as a top returning skier along with Bostrom for next season.

With these results, the men's and women's nordic team are now regarded as one of the top teams in the Central Collegiate Skiing Association. Both teams lose depth with the graduation of the seniors, but with new recruits and key returners, the Oles look to challenge for the top positions in the region again next year.

Contact Pat Buresh at 507-786-3315 or buresh@stolaf.edu.