Throughout the fall, you may have noticed a pack of Oles riding around on land skis across campus. No coaches were out there pushing them, just a team set on one goal: going to Division I Nationals.

Their hard work while the sun was shining six months ago has given the St. Olaf Men's and Women's Nordic ski teams an advantage now that the snow has finally arrived. With their success at last weekends MIAC Championship in Winona, both teams are ready for the final qualifying this weekend at Giants Ridge in Biwabik for the Central Collegiate Ski Association Championships.

Sophomore Jay Eidem and junior Sonja Bostrom are already in the driver's seat to qualify for a spots at the Division I NCAA championships in Middlebury, VT from March 7-10.

It has been the training done in the summer and fall that is truly to credit for the success of St. Olaf's Nordic teams and the individuals. Led by coaches Mike Nightengale and Siiri Carver, the team has dominated this season and had decisive victories last weekend in Winona.

"It's nothing that we do to prepare this next week," said Eidem. "It's all the work we put in during the summer and fall that will decide it."

In a sport where the individuals are recognized for success, it has been the tight cohesion of the group that has led to their dominance as a team. "We're all best friends out there," said junior Kevin Hochtl. "We cheer each other on and we just love to ski‹they're my 8 closest buds."

"Jay really whomped Œem this weekend," said Hochtl. "The whole weekend went very well." Hochtl didn't do so bad himself. While Eidem finished first in the 15K Freestyle ski with a time of 44:10, finishing well ahead of the competition, Hochtl finished fourth, but claimed the title in the 10K Classic ski at 30:45.

This weekend holds the biggest challenges for many of the individuals. Especially Hochtl. "Jay is looking good, but I'm still on the bubble [to qualify for Nationals]," said Hochtl. "I have to up it a little bit."

The women are in the same scenario. Bostrum has been leading the team, but senior Dawn Youngren won the 5K Classic with a time of 17:28. Senior Margie Tilman has also turned it on as of late. She finished third in the 5K Classic, but second in the 10K Freestyle. But they need to keep it up if they want to make it to Vermont.

And coach Nightengale has been here before. In addition to leading this team to the top last year, he competed in four Collegiate National Championships and three Olympic trials. Which is a very impressive resume indeed. The numbers are staggering. Both teams obliterated their competition. The men outlasted Carleton College by 15 points, but the women topped their weekend off with a 24 point victory over Gustavus Adolphus College. The women were so dominating that in the 10K freestyle, they claimed the top three spots and five of the top nine.

The men pulled seven out of the top ten spots in the 10K Classic. But that was against MIAC competition. "We'll need to pull off some pretty fast races to beat Michigan Tech and NMU [Northern Michigan University]," said Eidem, referring to the team's biggest rivals going into the weekend.

Last year's team set quite the precedent, but this year's team appears ready to pick up where they left off. That's why they kept training all summer‹to make sure they are at their best when it counts. If Eidem is right, this team should have no problems sliding away with another victorious season.