Discus Crew Cranks Up Cobbers
Concordia had four athletes qualify for the finals in the discus and used that group to jump from ninth to a tie for fifth in the final event on Day 1 at the MIAC Meet.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (5/14/21)—Concordia saved its best for last on the first day of the MIAC Outdoor Championship Meet. The Cobbers had four athletes qualify for the finals in the discus which was the final field event of the afternoon. CC then had two finish in the Top 5 which gave them 10 team points and helped them jump from ninth place into a tie for fifth place.
Cooper Folkestad, Jacob Kerzman, Ben Schelske and Jacob Steiner all placed in the Top 10 in the event, but it was the freshman Folkestad and the junior Kerzman who got into the Top 5 in the final standings. Folkestad came through with a throw of 147-02 in his final prelim attempt was good for third place. His distance is a season best and tied for the No.12 spot on the Concordia all-time list.
Kerzman placed fifth in the event with a mark of 137-07 which came on his second attempt on the day.
Schelske was ninth at 132-01 and Steiner placed in the No.10 spot with a mark of 129-08.
Steiner also picked up team points for the Cobbers in the hammer throw. He came through with a PR mark of 163-05. Steiner entered the event with the No.9 mark in the conference this season and jumped two spots to score points for CC.
Concordia's only other points on Day 1 came in the final track event of the day where they placed fourth in the 4x800-meter relay. The quartet of Connor Haugrud, Nolan Christenson, Cole Nowacki, and Dan Wilson clocked a time of 7:57.79 which is No.11 on the all-time Cobber list and fastest since 2018.
Most of the track events on Friday were spent with prelim heats trying to qualify for the finals on Saturday. Junior Jesse Middendorf qualified for the finals in both the 1500 and 800 meters. He ran a conservative 4:01.07 in the 1500 and then cruised to a time of 1:57.01 in the 800 to set the stage for a big day on Saturday.
Senior Munir Isahak also qualified for the finals in both the 1500 and 800 meters. He was right behind Middendorf in the 1500 with a time of 4:02.99 and then clocked a 1:57.81 in the 800 meters.
The surprise on the track side on Day 1 was turned in by sophomore Simon Zahrback who qualified for the finals in the 400 meters. A cross country athlete by trade, Zahrback started running the 400 this year and has steadily improved in each meet. On Saturday, he raced to a PR time of 51.40 and was the No.7 finisher in the prelims.
Dan Wilson was the other track athlete who qualified for the finals on Saturday. He posted a 56.83 in the 400-meter hurdles which was No.5 in qualifying and only .02 of a second off his PR.
UP NEXT: Concordia will look to stay in the Top 5 as a team when they finish of the MIAC Meet on Saturday, May 15 at 11:30 a.m. at Hamline University.
RECAP SPONSOR: Today's recap sponsor is 702 Communications. Cobber athletics would like to thank 702 Communications for their continued support of Concordia student/athletes.
