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Nordic Ski teams send two to NCAA Division I Nationals

Sonja Bostrum
February 27, 2002

This past weekend, the Oles ended the teams? season on a high note by competing in their final regional races at Giants Ridge in Biwabik, Minnesota. In a sense they were returning to familiar ground as they had competed there the previous weekend in the MIAC conference and also had many familiar faces of family and friends present to watch.

The weekend started off on a bad foot for the women in the classic race but strong for the men. "We just didn?t have the wax right but we skied strong and felt good even if the results didn?t show our full potential. Today we just tested wax for the men." Said senior captain Hillary McCulloh (St. Cloud, Minn.). In the 5k classic event Sonja Bostrom (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.)was eleventh, McCulloh eighteenth, Mariah Stember (Sr., Bemidji, Minn.) thirty-fourth, Alina Evans (FY., Fairbanks, Alaska) thirty-eighth, and Kelly Underkofler (FY., St. Paul, Minn.) forty-sixth.

The men turned out stellar performances for their fan club from Ytterboe pod 369 that came out to watch the race. Kevin Hochtl ( Sr., Vail, Colo.) finished fifth which opened the door to the possibility of making the regional team. Jay Eidem (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.) had his best classical performance of the year finishing tenth and John Giese (So., Mora, Minn.) finished sixteenth to round out the Oles scoring team which finished an amazing second place to Northern Michigan University (NMU).

The story of the weekend however was Hochtl?s amazing freestyle performance on Sunday, February 24, which qualified him for the national meet in Alaska. On the women?s side Sonja Bostrom also qualified for her third trip to NCAA Division I nationals. "We all thought that if any teammate was going to accompany Sonja to nationals that it would be Carleton?s Liz Parke who had a better chance than Kevin going into the weekend. Anything can happen when it comes down to the wire" stated Coach Mike Nightengale. Parke, a junior, narrowly missed making the regional team so it will indeed be St. Olaf?s Hochtl making the trip to Anchorage, Alaska next week. "We are all so proud of him!" said senior Mariah Stember. "He was so determined! After he finished, we all ran over to him screaming because we knew he had done it and jumped on top of him hugging and kissing him. We were so excited!" Hochtl needed a sixth place finish in order to tie for the final qualifying spot. However, instead of the minimum needed, he gave his all and finished an amazing second to NMU?s Matt Weier who has won many of the regions skate races this year. Jay Eidem also finished an impressive eighth after being taken down fairly early in the race and John Giese outsprinted Gustavus? Danny Kueffer to the line for eighteenth place.

On the women?s side, Bostrom finished second in the 15k freestyle event securing a spot on the regional team for the trip to nationals. McCulloh rounded out her senior season with a sixteenth place finish as did Stember finishing in thirty-eighth. The up and coming freshman superstar, Alina Evans finished thirty-first place and in her last race for St. Olaf before heading off to the paralympics, Kelly Underkofler finished forty-first. Full results for this past weekend can be found at www.superiorlandskiclub.com.

In a fitting way to end this snow drought season, the St. Olaf Nordic teams caravaned home with Carleton?s team spending the majority of those four hours in a snow-storm.

Good Luck to Kevin and Sonja at Nationals and to Kelly in the Paralympics!

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.