Photos from the final day of the 2017 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships, with the men’s 20-kilometer freestyle mass start taking place on a 5 k loop at the Jackson Ski Touring Center in Jackson, N.H.
Read more about the races and click here for professional photos by FlyingPointRoad.
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HOUGHTON, Mich. — Three days of racing at U.S. Cross Country Championships on the Michigan Tech Trails down and just one more to go with the 1.5-kilometer classic sprint taking place on Saturday. Check out the following photo gallery featuring some of the top moment’s from Thursday’s 20 and 30 k freestyle mass starts.
![Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project trailing Chelsea Holmes of Alaska Pacific University with 200-meters to go in the women's 20 k freestyle mass start on Thursday at U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. Patterson took the overall win in 1:01.03.5. Holmes placed second overall, 4 seconds behind Patterson.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/IMG_8826-e1452268547253.jpg")
HOUGHTON, Mich. — While most of the top skiers lined up for the start of the women’s 20-kilometer freestyle mass start at U.S. Cross Country Championships, including eventual winner Caitlin Patterson, logged numerous hours of training during the past year, at least one who finished in the top 10 claimed she has not.
“I have three jobs, so I basically don’t train,” said Eliska Hajkova, assistant coach of the Boulder Nordic Junior Racing Team, after placing sixth in the freestyle distance race on Thursday at the Michigan Tech Trails. “I just coach and do everything the juniors do.”
Hajkova, originally from the Czech Republic, added, “And you know, they’re great. They have the spirit, they have the will to go, they have everything in front of them, and it powers me.”
Still, the lineup Hajkova and many other competitors faced in the 20 k, like Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) and Chelsea Holmes of Alaska Pacific University (APU) to name a few, presented a challenge.
With these powerhouses in front and hungry racers like Hajkova close behind, the women’s field charged the course, Holmes heading the herd out of the mass start.
“At the low point in the course, around 5 k the first time around, pretty much everyone was together,” Holmes recalled in a post-race phone interview. “When we came out of the low point, Caitlin [Patterson] and Anne Hart took the front for a little bit. But mostly, I was in front.”
![Chelsea Holmes (201) leads a train with Caitlin Patterson (202), Anne Hart (213), Katharine Ogden (203), and Eliska Hajkova and Erika Flowers (not shown) heading towards the lap lane during the women's 20 k freestyle mass start on Thursday at U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. Patterson went on to win in 1:01.03.5.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/IMG_8542-e1452224704646.jpg")
As Holmes settled back into the front for the next climb, the pace quickened and a lead group began to develop.
“I could every once in a while see the pack behind us dwindling, and people dropping off little by little,” Patterson said.
As racers began to string out on 10 k course, the lead pack quickly became five women: Patterson, Holmes, Katharine Ogden of the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) and Anne Hart of Stratton’s elite T2 Team, and Hajkova.
By the time the five arrived at the 8 k mark, Erika Flowers, Hart’s SMST2 teammate, had caught up.
“My goal was to start really hard and try and not get pushed to the back, then conserve throughout the first lap,” Flowers explained. “It actually broke up quite a bit more quickly than I would have expected and I got dropped a little bit.”
With a pull from the front, Flowers hunted down the chase pack and latched onto Hajkova.
“Eliska and I were skiing together in the second lap, and we kept going back and forth,” Flowers said.
As the women rounded into their second 10 k lap, the race became a push through pain for some. Four women broke away: Patterson, Hart, Ogden, and Holmes.
“In the second lap the [top four] dropped me so hard because I was going all out from the beginning,” Hajkova said. She stuck with Flowers for the rest of the second lap.
“During the first lap I was feeling fairly smooth and relaxed and I thought people around me were working a little harder,” Patterson recalled. “But then there was one point early in the second lap when I almost got gapped. I came over the top of the hill at 3 k [on the course] probably, five or six seconds behind the other three.”
Knowing the potential for the group to get away from her, Patterson quickly maneuvered into a tuck after cresting the hill.
“My skis were absolutely amazing,” Patterson said. “I caught all the way back up and was even almost ahead of them by the downhill.”
Patterson led the group descent toward the hairpin turn. However, by the time the group reached the climb, Holmes was taking charge up front.
![Chelsea Holmes of APU drives the front pack of women during the women's 20 k freestyle mass start on Thursday at U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/IMG_8533.jpg")
“Chelsea was leading a lot of the race so I definitely commend her on that,” Patterson said. “I tried to lead some, but I was getting tired and just found it more efficient to ski behind. Katharine and Anne were skiing behind almost the whole time, too.”
In her second 20 k race ever, 18-year-old Ogden, who raced to third overall, found following to be her ideal positioning.
“It was awesome skiing with Caitlin , Chelsea, and Anne Hart,” Ogden said. “Just being able to ski behind them is so nice for me, I can really learn a lot from them and catch a ride on the downhills.”
The four raced together until the final 1 k, where a battle between Holmes, Hart and Patterson began to take shape.
“As we were coming up that last one k of the course, Anne got into the front,” Patterson explained. “Chelsea and I both tried to go around her a few times and then Chelsea succeeded and put a little gap on me, but I never gave up and there was just enough time for me to power through.”
With 200 meters to the finish, Holmes remained in front of Patterson. Ogden, who had passed Hart, raced not far behind in third.
Patterson then moved to the right of Holmes as the two — both originally from near Anchorage, Alaska (Holmes grew up in Girdwood) — approached the last 100-meter stretch to the finish.
In a final punch, Patterson took the win, 4 seconds ahead of Holmes, in 1:01.03.5.
“It’s such a hard finish,” Patterson said. “I felt like I was definitely hurting, yet I’d had the opportunity to race it similarly in the skate sprint the other day, and my legs were burning and dying so much worse in the sprint so … I knew I could do it.”
After Holmes, three Stratton women crossed the with Ogden in third (7.8 seconds behind Patterson), Hart in fourth (+16.5), and Flowers finishing 59 seconds later in fifth.
“It’s a good confidence builder. They skied with maturity,” said SMST2 coach Patrick O’Brien. “They started out well and knew that gaps were going to happen on that course and that they were positioning themselves in the right place. I really can’t ask for more.”
Ogden said she plans to finish out nationals with the classic sprint on Saturday, then head back to the East Coast for a few SuperTour races before flying to Romania for Junior World Championships.
Both Hart and Flowers will also stick around for the sprints, though Flowers’s immediate plans after U.S. nationals diverge from staying at home.
“I’m actually going over to Europe — I’m going to go see Andy, which will be awesome,” she said. Flowers is dating U.S. Ski Team member Andy Newell.
![Stratton Mountain School skier Katharine Ogden and teammate Anne Hart head towards the finish of the women's 20 k freestyle mass start on Thursday at U.S. nationals in Houghton, Mich. Ogden placed third overall (+7.8) Hart fourth (+16.5).](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/01/IMG_8845-e1452223399428.jpg")
“So I’ll be on the ‘U.S.A cheer squad’ next weekend [at the World Cup] in Slovenia,” she said.
Patterson may also travel to Europe, anticipating a World Cup start.
“I think I can say it’s fairly certain I will get a World Cup spot for Period 3 now,” she said, regarding her point accumulation after three races at U.S. nationals. She won Sunday’s 10 k classic individual start for her first-career national title, then placed third in the freestyle sprint on Monday.
In all, Patterson has five career podiums at nationals, three of which came this week.
While Patterson will also stay for Saturday’s sprint, a few athletes and coaches have other obligations, school being one of them.
“We have to go home because the kids have to go to school. They’ve already missed a week,” Hajkova said, referring to her junior athletes.
Kelsey Phinney, a senior at Middlebury College who raced to a solid seventh, 21 seconds behind Hajkova, will return to the East Coast for the start of the college race season.
“Seeing as it’s my last college season, most of my big races are yet to come, so coming here was just to do a little racing and have fun,” Phinney said. “I really wanted to be top ten in a distance race this week. Without putting too much pressure on myself, I felt that with the right day and good legs I could definitely do that.”
One more off day remains before the 1.5 k classic sprints on Saturday.
![Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg/Madshus) smiles with relief after winning the women's 20 k freestyle mass start at U.S. Cross Country Championships on Wednesday in Midway, Utah. Gregg won by 3:36, the biggest margin at nationals in recent memory.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/caitlin-gregg-big-winner.jpg")
FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships is brought to you through the generous support of The Memory Clinic in Bennington, Vt.
MIDWAY, Utah — Caitlin Gregg didn’t waste any time getting out front and out of range on Wednesday, opening up an 11.5-second lead by the first of four laps in the women’s 20-kilometer freestyle mass start. The 33-year-old SuperTour leader went on to post the fastest lap each time around the Olympic 5 k course at Soldier Hollow en route to a 3:36.4-second victory in the penultimate race of the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships.
![2014Jan11_9974-L](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/2014Jan11_9974-L.jpg")
FasterSkier’s coverage of the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships is brought to you through the generous support of The Memory Clinic in Bennington, Vt.
MIDWAY, Utah – At the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships, winning by any margin is enough to make most competitors’ day. Not so for Caitlin Gregg of Team Gregg and Madshus, who won Wednesday’s 20 k freestyle mass start with a time of 55:33 and a lead of over three and a half minutes, a gap that has not been seen at the national level in recent memory. Unsatisfied with a mere win, Gregg set a blistering pace that left her fellow racers in the dust after the first few kilometers, ultimately resulting in her fourth national title.
“I had a game plan. It was to try and see what kind of a gap I could create,” Gregg said in post-race interview.
![IMG_9771_edited-2](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/IMG_9771_edited-2.jpg" "Caitlin Gregg (Team Gregg/Madshus) leads Chelsea Holmes (SVSEF) up Hermod's Hill in the first lap of the 20 k freestyle at the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships. Greg handily won the the race, with Holmes following in second.")
The 20 k race started out like most. The gun went off and the 78 women fought to find the best place they could in the sea of brightly colored spandex. “We were all in front and then I let some people step in front of me thinking that I would relax,” said Rosie Brennan, eventual third place finisher and skier from Alaska Pacific University. “Then I looked up again and Caitlin [Gregg] was gone.”
With an extensive history of success in skate mass starts like the Birkie, Gregg knew to take the first few kilometers easy to see how she was feeling and to observe how well her skis were running. After the first few downhills, she realized that she had skis like rockets.
“I’m risking the rest of the field getting all tangled up and falling on each other, just siting around here and trying not to pull,” she said. “At the top of the second big climb I took the lead. Once I started going, I finally got into my groove. I couldn’t stop smiling.”
As Gregg took off, only one skier attempted to stick with her. Chelsea Holmes of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, who eventually finished second, took what she thought would be a short ride to the front of the pack. Instead, she realized that Gregg wasn’t going to slow down, but it was too late.
“It was brutal. I felt like a child; a small, floundering child,” said Holmes. “I didn’t think [Gregg] was going to actually go that hard.”
Holmes did her best to stay with Gregg through the first lap, but a five meter gap turned into 10, which then turned into 20, and pretty soon she found herself alone on the course with the blue and white Team Gregg suit off in the distance and a hungry Brennan coming up from behind.
![IMG_9860_edited-1](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/IMG_9860_edited-1.jpg")
”That was one of the harder races I’ve done, knowing that there were people behind me, catching me,” said Holmes. “I was very deep in the pain cave the entire time.”
However once Brennan overcame her near the end of the second lap, she was able to rest a little while the two worked together. “I think that was a good thing,” she said of Brennan catching her.
After watching the men’s race, where initial breakaways were slowly reigned back in, Brennan assumed she would just relax and slowly catch up to Holmes. “Once I got there I thought we could work together, but this course is so hard,” said Brennan of the 5 k olympic course that the women completed four times. “There is no rest. Even when I was following [Holmes], it felt like I was maxed out.”
While the race for second was being waged between Holmes and Brennan, another pair was skiing behind them to keep their position on the challenging course. Kate Fitzgerald (APU) and Caitlin Patterson of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project used each other to try and close the gap between them and Holmes and Brennan
“We were switching leads out there, which made it a lot more fun; way more fun than skiing by yourself,” Fitzgerald said. “We were chasing Rosie and Chelsea. They were like a carrot over there.”
![Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury GRP) and Kate Fitzgerald (APU) work together in the 20 k freestyle mass start at the 2014 U.S. Cross Country Championships.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/IMG_9835_edited-1.jpg")
“It was fun to work together with her. I don’t think either of us would have been as strong without each other,” said Patterson. “For a while I thought maybe we could get them, it seemed like we were closing for a little bit. But they definitely didn’t die and they had a pretty strong push at the end.”
In the end, the pair was unable to reach the second and third place finishers. Fitzgerald skied across the finish line in fourth and Patterson followed in fifth.
While the two pairs were working behind her, Gregg was continuing to surmount an increasing lead. With each glide of her ski she gained more confidence as she made her way around the hilly course.
“The hills were so tough, and for some reason I’m silly and I love that,” she said with a laugh.
Even though it was apparent that nobody would be able to catch her, she never slowed down. “I wanted to see what I could do and I just felt too good. It was really fun, and I definitely skied relaxed and there’s definitely that point where skiing relaxed is faster.”
Testing her limits wasn’t the only motivating factor for Gregg in Wednesday’s 20 k. In an Olympic year where there are many strong women who have already met the criteria for the Olympics, she needed to prove that she was more than worthy of a spot in Sochi.
![IMG_9804](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/IMG_9804.jpg")
When asked about whether or not the Olympic Games were an influence in today’s race, she recalled something Pete Vordenberg, the former U.S. Ski Team Head Coach, said to her before she made the Olympic team in 2010.
“He said ‘when you’re on the bubble, the best place to be is not on the bubble.’ And if you’re not going to be on the bubble you’re going to have to make it pretty apparent,” she said.
She did her best to make it apparent, and skied the fastest time each lap. By the time the next competitor had crossed the line Gregg had already finished over 3:36 before.
With many strong American sprinters, Gregg knew she had to shine in another discipline. She also knew that there would be a 30 k skate race in Sochi. A smart and calculated move, she saw the chance to demonstrate that she could be a strong contender in that race.
“[The 20 k was] that opportunity to make it easy for them. Don’t leave any doubt in their minds. And so [today] was my attempt to do that.”
While the U.S. Ski Team coaches are waiting to announce the Olympic team until the 21-22 of January, Gregg and her husband, Brian, have plenty to do in the meantime. On the same day that Gregg was crowned national champion in the 20 k and her husband placed second in the 30 k, both were scheduled to fly to Europe to compete in the period II World Cup races taking place in the Czech Republic.
The couple qualified for the World Cup by taking the top spots in the SuperTour standings, and if all goes well, she’ll continue her quest to “get off the bubble,” while competing at the World Cup level. However, the most important thing is that she and her husband are on the journey together.
“I cannot express anything better than being able to share this with my husband,” said Gregg, who upon her husband’s second place finish broke out into a fit of emotional exuberance. “It’s a great way to end our nationals. We’re going to get on that plane and we are just going to have all sorts of war stories, and then crash something fierce on that flight.”
— Alex Matthews contributed reporting
![Laurie Humbert and Caitlin Gregg](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/01/IMG_3790.jpg")
RIPTON, Vt. — It didn’t get much better than Saturday, with sunny skies and spring-like conditions for the last day of the NCAA Skiing Championships at Rikert Nordic Center.
Colorado University (CU) senior Joanne Reid dropped the women’s field in the 10-kilometer freestyle mass start and teammate Eliska Hajkova hung on for silver, lifting the Buffs ahead of the University of Vermont (UVM) in the team standings.
In the men’s 20 k freestyle race, the University of Utah took center stage with senior Miles Havlick defending his 2012 NCAA Championships mass-start title. Rune Ødegård placed second to help CU finish on top for its 18th national title, and another Norwegian, Einar Ulsund, finished third for Utah to bump the team to second overall.
For more photos from the 2013 NCAA Skiing Championships, visit Flying Point Road Photography. All proceeds go to the National Nordic Foundation (NNF).
![University of Utah senior Miles Havlick celebrates his second NCAA title in the 20 k mass start, 0.6 seconds ahead of Colorado's Rune Ødegård (l) in second and Utah teammate Einar Ulsund (r) in third on Saturday at the Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton, Vt. (Photo: Steve Fuller/flyingpointroad.com. All photo sales benefit NNF)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/havlick-finish.jpg")
RIPTON, Vt. – Standing with a microphone in hand shortly after winning Saturday’s 20-kilometer freestyle mass start at the 2013 NCAA Skiing Championships, Miles Havlick smiled as he fielded playful questions from the announcer.
Friends, fans and impressed spectators surrounded him at the Rikert Nordic Center, and as soon as he was done thanking the crowd and his University of Utah teammates, Havlick was bombarded with hugs.
![Miles Havlick (r), the 2013 NCAA 20 k freestyle mass start champion, during a post-race interview with the NCAA announcer on Saturday at Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton, Vt.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/IMGP9827.jpg")
With watery eyes, the two-time NCAA Champion was either emotional or simply tanked after four laps around Rikert’s deceivingly hard 5 k course – probably a little of both.
The senior had just defended his 2012 national title in the 20-kilometer mass start, this time in a skate race. Skiing up into the stadium with six others less than half a kilometer before the finish, Havlick rose from a possible podium contender to a repeat champion, passing Dartmouth College’s Sam Tarling and catching Rune Ødegård of the University of Colorado, who won Thursday’s 10 k classic individual start.
In edging Ødegård by six-tenths of a second in 50:13.4, Havlick led a trio of Utes in the top five. With Norwegian teammate Einar Ulsund in third (+1.0) and Swede Niklas Persson in fifth (+3.1), Utah captured second in the final team standings (43 points behind NCAA champion the University of Colorado) and bumped the University of Vermont (UVM) to third.
“It’s hard to do it again,” Havlick said of his second-straight NCAA mass-start title. “Just an awesome team this fall, all new guys. I was the only one returning and you never know what to expect, but it was an unbelievable senior year.”
At breakfast Saturday morning, he said they talked about goals – three in the top five – which they knew would be hard, but wanted to strive for nonetheless. Havlick set the tone early, leading Viktor Brännmark of the University of Alaska-Anchorage (UAA) and Tarling through the first downhill. Tarling took the lead up the toughest climb on the loop, while Brännmark, Dartmouth teammate Silas Talbot, Ulsund and Havlick stuck near the front of the large pack.
Ødegård pushed the pace on the second lap while Ulsund, Brännmark, Tarling and Middlebury’s Ben Lustgarten chased, along with some 20 others. The group remained some 25 strong through the third lap, in which David Norris (Montana State University) made a move to the front. Halfway through the last time around, it dwindled to seven (with Ulsund, Soderman, Tarling, Ødegård, Talbot, Persson, and Lustgarten).
![Utah senior Miles Havlick on his way to winning Saturday's 20 k freestyle mass start for his second-straight NCAA Championships title. Havlick topped Colorado University sophomore Rune Odegard by 0.6 seconds for the victory at Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton, Vt. (Photo: Steve Fuller/flyingpointroad.com. All photo sales benefit NNF)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/havlick_use.jpg")
Havlick had lost contact, but regained it on the final climbs. Following Tarling up the last ascent into the field before the finish, Havlick watched as Ødegård charged to the front. He responded, outsprinting the Norwegian in the final straightaway.
“It was deafening skiing up that hill,” Havlick said of the crowd near the finish. “Ears just ringing really takes the pain away.
“It’s unbelievable today,” he added. “You never know what’s gonna happen in a mass start. It’s just perfect.”
Sharing the podium with his teammates after with their second-place showing, Utah’s skiing director Kevin Sweeney handed Havlick the large trophy to hoist over his head for photos.
“This championship is one of the most, I would say, competitive that I’ve experienced and I’ve been collegiate coaching for a long time,” Sweeney said. “So for this to finish up the way it did, it’s a true highlight of my career and such a great group of guys. Everybody skied where they needed to. I’m ecstatic.”
Even though CU and UVM were the favorites battling it out for first, Sweeney knew his skiers could get into the mix. He just wasn’t sure where they’d stack up against strong teams, including Dartmouth, he said.
“You know they’re gonna be in it, just exactly where,” Sweeney said. “I was very happy to see the race unfold and see our three guys basically in the top 10. I felt good about that.”
Last year’s 10 k freestyle individual start champion, Soderman placed fourth (+2.6). Mats Resaland of the University of New Mexico was fifth (+2.8), Tarling seventh (+5.2) and Lustgarten notched his second top 10 of the week in eighth (he was fourth on Thursday). Talbot placed ninth and Kyle Bratrud of Northern Michigan University was 10th.
“It was a hard race because we were like 20 people pretty much the whole race,” Persson said. “You didn’t really know if you were skiing fast enough, if you were gonna end up top five or top 20, you never know.”
According to Ulsund, the Utes were out for redemption after Thursday’s race, in which Havlick led the team in sixth, Ulsund was 13th and Persson was 15th.
“We just decided that this should be our day,” Ulsund said.
Anticipating an attack from UVM’s Scott Patterson, undefeated in eastern carnival freestyle races this season, Ulsund said it never came (Patterson ended up 26th). Meanwhile, the pace stayed mostly consistent in soft conditions on a 40-degree afternoon.
“Usually we try to switch the lead, but today our tactic was mostly to stay in the pack and do something on the last lap,” Ulsund explained. “I’m a pretty slow sprinter so I was really worried, like, what’s going to happen now? Thankfully, the others were tired and the first three got the gap and that’s what set my podium spot today.”
Just about as thrilled with his personal and team performance, CU sophomore Ødegård said the Buffs went into the 20 k thinking they were down to UVM. In reality, they were up by 16 points after Joanne Reid and Eliska Hajkova took first and second, respectively, in the preceding women’s 15 k.
“We went into today chasing and that’s where we want to be,” he said. “When I saw during the race there were no Vermont skiers up in the lead, I knew we had the team victory. It was just awesome to ski around and do whatever I could to finish.”
As for doing achieving the highest collegiate honors with his American team, Ødegård said, “We have an amazing group. Everyone’s enjoying being together. This week staying at the peaceful hotel, really team bonding all week, everyone had a good time I think and that’s most important.”
![2013 NCAA men's 20 k freestyle mass start podium (Photo: Steve Fuller/flyingpointroad.com)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/mens-podium.jpg")
Men’s results | Team results | Photos
See also: Reid, Hajkova Land Top Two to Lift CU to NCAA Title
For more photos from the 2013 NCAA Skiing Championships, visit Flying Point Road Photography. All proceeds go to the National Nordic Foundation (NNF).