MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – St. Scholastica junior #Mason Bacso# (Jr.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) continued a string of top-10 finishes in Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) action Saturday with a seventh place finish in the CCSA NCAA Qualifier 10km freestyle at the Mayor's Challenge Supertour at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis.

Bacso came off two top 10s in the qualifiers at the U.S. National Championships in Anchorage just after New Years. He posted his top CCSA conference finish today in 24:25.2 seconds, just over a minute off the time of the winner, Michigan Tech's Oskar Lund. UW-Green Bay's Santiago Ocariz finished second in 26:36.8 seconds, and Northern Michigan's George Cartwright rounded out the top three in 23:51.6 seconds.

Rain fell during the women's race earlier making the course very wet, but as the men started, the rain stopped and was replaced with a wind that hardened and quickened the track considerably. The result was incredibly tight finishes in which seconds literally decided the order. Freshman #Kasey Bacso# (Fr.-Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) finished 12th in 25:18.6 seconds and junior #Waylon Manske# (Jr.-Bemidji, Minn.) finished 16th in 25:26.1 seconds to round out the Saints' scoring, putting them fourth in the team scoring. It was Manske's first finish outside the top 10 in the past seven CCSA freestyle races.

“We skied as a team very, very well today,” said Saints head coach Chad Salmela. “Mason skied extremely smart, just gliding on a course that really required a smooth, gliding effort to be in the money. Kasey is fighting a slight cold and will not race tomorrow, but skied surprisingly well considering. Waylon is fit, but simply was too aggressive with his effort early, and when it's so tight like it was today, when you break down, you plummet in the results.”

The Saints packed the top 20 with five skiers, a first in the program's four-year history. “While fourth is far from our best finish as a team, the depth we had after our three scorers was inspiring,” said Salmela. “We are really still a young team and to have freshmen 12th, 17th, and 18th, with this being #Jeremy Hecker#'s (Fr.-Andover, Minn.) and #Jake Morgan#'s (Fr.-Bozeman, Mont.) first college races ever, it's a sign of things to come for us. Finishing fourth with both Kasey and Waylon not having the best races is also encouraging for the rest of the season.”

The Saints continue competition at Theodore Wirth Park Sunday with the men's 15km classic mass start.

CCSA NCAA Qualifier 10km Freestyle
Mayor's Challenge Supertour
Theodore Wirth Park, Minneapolis
1/23/10

1. LUND, Oskar SR/MA MTU 0:23:24.7
2. OCARIZ, Santiago SR/MA UWGB 0:23:36.8
3. CARTWRIGHT, George OJ NMU 0:23:51.6
4. LANG, Jesse SR/MA MTU 0:24:04.7
5. BRABBIT, Jens SR/MA Gustavus College 0:24:06.3
6. PARRY, John SR/MA UAF 0:24:23.6
7. BACSO, Mason SR/MA CSS 0:24:25.2
8. COOK, Tim SR/MA NMU 0:24:36.2
9. SOOM, Henri SR/MA UAF 0:25:01.8
10. SABO, Ray SR/MA UAF 0:25:04.5
12. BACSO, Kasey OJ CSS 0:25:18.6
16. MANSKE, Waylon SR/MA CSS 0:25:26.1
17. HECKER, Jeremy OJ CSS 0:25:31.2
18. MORGAN, Jacob OJ CSS 0:25:39.8
28. LEACH, Kirk SR/MA CSS 0:26:29.0
34. WRIGHT, Ryan OJ CSS 0:26:58.4
39. HUPPERTS, Stefan SR/MA CSS 0:27:14.2
41. NISTLER, Matt SR/MA CSS 0:27:27.7

MEN'S TEAM RESULTS
1 MTU 66
2 NMU 61
3 UAF 59
4 CSS 52
5 UWGB 46
6 GAC 38
7 SJU 27
8 STO 23
9 GOG 5