Race(ing) To The Top
Senior Race Heitkamp dropped 1:50 off his career-best time and helped Concordia to a sixth-place finish at the Crown Invite.
ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. (10/17/15)—Concordia senior Race Heitkamp dropped 1:50 off his career-best 8000-meter time to led the Cobbers to a sixth-place finish at the Crown Invite. Heitkamp finished in 33rd place with a time of 28:24.
Ryan Turner, last week's No.1 runner for the Cobbers, paced Heitkamp for most of the race before being overtaken in the final section to finish 36th in 28:32. That time was very close to his career best time which he posted last week. For the second straight week Concordia's finish was handicapped by the loss of Erik Larson, Brandon Quibell, and Will Corbett - three of the team's top 7 runners – who were all out due to injuries.
"We were without some key athletes again due to nagging injuries," commented head coach Garrick Larson. "The good news is that we don't have any major injuries, which is a blessing. The guys are a little banged up and we're just being a little conservative with racing so we make sure we have them ready by the MIAC Championship in two weeks."
Matthew Lillehaugen was the team's No.3 runner at Crown. He raced to a 29:01 and placed 53rd. His brother Luke rounded out the top 4 place winners for Concordia. Luke Lillehaugen was only 29-seconds off his brother's time as he finished in 61st place in a time of 29:30.
Despite the injured, several of the other runners had break-out races at the Crown Invite. Besides Heitkamp, four other Cobbers showed large improvements. Landry Hacklander dropped his best time by 1:10, Nathaniel Harrison cut 1:29 off his top showing, Brandon Johnson had his best race by 1:51 and Luke Owens shaved 2:00 from his top time.
Coach Larson added, "It's great to see such big improvement from the guys over the last couple weeks. Race [Heitkamp] raced really well today. I guess his name is a great fit for the sport."
WHAT'S NEXT: Heitkamp will hope to continue his role as one of the team's top runners as he, and the rest of the Cobbers, will have two weeks to prepare for the MIAC Championship Meet on Saturday, Oct. 31.