Speed And Hops Get Eighth Place At MIAC Meet

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (3/08/14)—The speed of Ben Vickstrom and the jumping ability of Mark Goss - and the Concordia high jump team - helped Concordia finish eighth at the MIAC Indoor Championship Meet.

The Cobbers finished with a total of 35.5 team points which was 13 points behind seventh-place Carleton and 3.5 points ahead of ninth place Augsburg.

Vickstrom capped a terrific indoor season by breaking his own school record in the 60-meter dash. Vickstrom became the first Concordia athlete to break the 7-second barrier when he ran a 6.98 in the finals of the event and finished in second place. He then clocked a 22.58 in the 200 meters and finished in third place. Vickstrom wound up scoring 14 of the team's 35.5 points.

Goss joined Vickstrom as the team's only MIAC All-Conference winners by placing third in the high jump. Goss cleared a season-best height of 6-04.25. His height also ties the team best for the season. He was a part of group of four CC athletes who finished in the top 10 of the event. Theo Betting tied for sixth place with a mark of 6-02.25 and earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention honors. Both Gabe Wright and Jackson Schepp finished with the same height but Wright finished eighth and Schepp ninth due to misses at lower heights.

Schepp went on to earn All-Conference Honorable Mention honors in the triple jump with a final distance of 41-10.50.

Wright also finished seventh in the heptathlon on Thursday and Friday. Wright finished with a total of 3,979 points in the seven events. That score is the fifth best in school history. He was one of four CC athletes to post top 10 program marks in the event. Joe Hendrickson posted the No.7 score in the heptathlon in school history with 3,751 points while Nikolaj Hagen was No.9 at 3,411 points and Calder Solloway recorded the 10th best point total in CC history at 3,247 points.  

The other Cobber team points came from a trio of seventh-place finishes in relay events. The 4x200-meter relay team of Dan McGuire, Vickstrom, Jeff Fiebelkorn and Alex Benzegala ran a 1:32.30 which is the sixth fastest in program history. Benzegala then teamed with Carl Wahlin, Ethan Spittle and Christian Aardahl to clock the 11th fastest distance medley relay in program history at 10:50.55 and the 4x400-meter relay squad of Benzegala, Betting, Fiebelkorn and Spittle finished seventh in the final event of the meet, the 4x400-meter relay, with a time of 3:28.18.

Concordia will now turn its attention to the outdoor season. The Cobbers are scheduled to get underway in the great outdoors on Saturday, Mar. 29 at the St. John's Indoor/Outdoor Dual Meet.