COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University have decided to transfer its Nordic ski programs from intercollegiate status to a club sport, CSB athletic director Carol Howe-Veenstra and SJU athletic director Tom Stock announced Friday, March 4.

“This was a very difficult decision, but it is one that we believed had to be made from a budget standpoint,” Stock said.

Added Howe-Veenstra, “This shift is a reallocation of resources to better meet the ever-changing needs of our students and student-athletes.”

During the five years (1999-00 to 2003-04) that the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sponsored Nordic skiing, SJU won the conference championship in 2003 and CSB finished as high as third on two occasions. Both programs were forced to become an independent and compete against all divisions when the MIAC ended its sponsorship of the sport following the 2004 season. Gustavus Adolphus and St. Olaf are the only MIAC-member institutions that have a Nordic ski program at the intercollegiate level.

“(Head coach) Dave (Johnson) has provided the Nordic ski programs with tremendous leadership over his 11 years with a commitment to developing high quality trails and working with our teams in a manner that complimented their development as student-athletes,” Howe-Veenstra said. “His passion and care for his teams was second to none.”   

“On behalf of CSB and SJU, I would like to thank all past and present Blazer and Johnnie Nordic skiers for their tremendous contributions to their programs and to our athletic departments,” Stock added.