IRONWOOD, Mich. â€Ã‚“ The first day of the Saint OlafCCSA Invitational was held on Saturday and the NMU womenâ€Ã‚™s cross country skiteam was first with 84 points in the 5K Freestyle event.  Alaska Fairbanks was second with 81 points. 

The â€Ã‚˜Cats held the second through the sixth places in theevent.  Hilary Patzer was the topfinishing â€Ã‚˜Cat in second place (3:37.0). Rachel Daw was next in third place (3:40.2) followed by Tami Kochen infourth place (3:45.4).  About a secondbehind Kochen in fifth place was Maria Stuber (3:46.4) as Katherine Huemmer wasnext for the â€Ã‚˜Cats in sixth place (3:47.3).

Jordan Seethaler finished in eighth place (3:51.2) followedby Shannon Dikkema in ninth place (3:51.5). Aniya Deitz in 11^th place (3:57.3) and Stephanie Howe in 25^thplace (4:13.5) were the final two skiers who placed for the â€Ã‚˜Cats.

The second day of the event will be held on Sunday (Jan.26).