Successful Season-Changing Weekend In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (1/31/15)—Cobber swimming and diving fans could well mark Jan. 30-31 as the two days that changed the course of the 2014-15 season.

Concordia started the successful St. Paul weekend by beating Hamline 113-92 in a dual meet on Friday and then claimed third-place at the multi-team St. Kate's Invitational on Saturday. Both results exceeded seed marks heading into the weekend and both meets showed how far the Cobbers have come this season.

On Friday, Concordia claimed seven event wins to beat Hamline by 21 points.  The Cobbers wasted little time seizing momentum in the meet as they won the very first event. The 200-yard medley relay team swam a 2:04.29 to win the event by a full 10 seconds.     

Sophomore Joleen Plekkenpol gave Concordia two straight event wins when she captured the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:09.31.

Ann Marie O'Connell, Sarah Nelson, Siri Berry and Kayla Rauchwarter earned the other individual event wins for the Cobbers. O'Connell won both the 200-yard individual medley and 500-yard freestyle.  O'Connell had a winning time of 2:25.83 in the 200IM and then clocked a season-best 5:42.55 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Nelson captured the win in the 100-yard butterfly with a finals time of 1:04.30. That won the event by a full two seconds. Berry continues to improve in her first collegiate swimming season. She won the 100-yard freestyle by touching the pad at 58.90. That time is a season best.

Rauchwarter made the biggest splash of the dual meet. She won the 1-meter diving event and in the process posted a career best score. Rauchwarter finished with a total of 227.95 points which was 46 points in front of the trio of Hamline divers.

Hannah Winge, Katrina Teskey, Abby Gunderson and Andrea Kittleson all had second-place finishes in the dual to give Concordia valuable team points.

The Cobbers then carried that positive vibe to the St. Kate's Invite less than 24 hours later.

O'Connell, Berry and Nelson were the main catalysts behind the team's third-place finish. Concordia finished in fourth place at the same meet last year after scoring 337 team points. CC had 383 points on Saturday.

O'Connell earned the only event win for Concordia when she swam a 5:09.72 in the 400-yard individual medley to claim the victory. That time is a season best by almost three seconds and pushes her into the top 21 of the conference. O'Connell was also fifth in the very competitive 500-yard freestyle. After posting a season best in the 500-yard free on Friday, O'Connell bettered that time when she raced to a 5:41.54. That mark vaults her onto the top 40 list of the conference.

Nelson came away with a third-place finish and a fourth-place mark on Saturday. Nelson earned her third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly as she touched the wall in a time of 2:30.87 and was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a mark of 1:04.70.

Berry was fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyles. She clocked a season-best time of 26.80 in the 50-yard free and followed that with a season-best time of 58.52 in the 100-yard free.

Concordia's top relay finish at the St. Kate's Invite was in the 400-yard freestyle relay where the quartet of O'Connell, Lily Johnson, Berry and Nelson sped to a season-best time of 3:56.05. That time is a full three seconds faster than any mark during the regular season form last year.

The Cobbers will continue with the multi-team invitational schedule when they compete at the St. Thomas Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 12 p.m.