Number 10 Rules At Dragon Invite

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/16/16)---It was a good day for Concordia and the number 10 at the final day of competition in the Dragon Invite held at MSU Moorhead.

The Cobbers recorded 10 different Top 10 finishes as they get within a month of the MIAC Championship Meet. For the second straight day Concordia posted several conference qualifying marks as well as season best marks.

Freshman Ciara White made the number 3 her personal favorite on Saturday. White had three top 10 finishes and led all Cobber athletes with a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. White swam a 1:11.72 in the finals of the event to claim third place. She was a mere .60 of a second off of second place and only 1.05 seconds behind the event winner.

White also posted top 10 finishes in 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley. White touched the wall in 1:00.52 in the final of the 100-yard freestyle and took ninth place. Her time in the finals was off of the 59.85 she put up in the prelims in the morning. White capped her day by placing 10th in the 200-yard individual medley. White swam a 2:29.17 in the finals to capture her third top 10 mark.

Fellow freshman Alaina Dehnke had a pair of Top 10 finishes on Day 2 of the meet. She also posted the second-highest finish. Dehnke was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle after swimming a 2:05.70 in the finals. She was almost a second faster in the prelims with a mark of 2:04.77. Her time in the prelims is the fastest by a Cobber in the event this season and a season best for Dehnke.

Dehnke's other Top 10 finish was posted in the 100-yard backstroke where she placed fifth. Like the 200-yard freestyle, she wound up swimming faster in the prelims. Dehnke raced to a 1:06.21 in the morning and then clocked a 1:06.72 in the finals.

Like Dehnke, Ann Marie O'Connell also had a pair of Top 10 finishes. She was fifth in the 200-yard individual medley and also eighth in the 100-yard butterfly. O'Connell's fastest time in the individual medley came in the prelims when she came home in 2:26.97. Her fifth-place time in the finals was 2:27.36.

O'Connell started Saturday with her eighth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. She sped to a 1:05.33 in the finals which is just .60 of second behind her season-best time which she posted at the Jean Freeman Invite in December.

Sarah Nelson also competed in the afternoon session in the 100-yard butterfly. Nelson recorded a finals time of 1:09.19 which was good for 10th place. She earned a spot in the finals with a mark of 1:08.93 in the prelims.

Nelson was also a part of one of the top events for the Cobbers on Saturday. CC had three swimmers make the "B" finals in the 100-yard freestyle. White finished ninth but then Nelson was 11th at 1:02.62 and Julie Bushard was 12th at 1:06.58.

Annie Herkenhoff and Jordyn Olson had the other Top 10 finishes on Day 2. Herkenhoff backed up her second-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle on Day 1 by placing seventh in the 20—yard freestyle on Saturday. Herkenhoff dropped almost two full seconds off her time from the prelims in the event. She swam a 2:06.30 in the morning but then came back to post a 2:04.79 in the finals.

Olson's Top 10 finish came in the 500-yard freestyle. She came home in 6:01.45 in the finals which was a full 8-seconds faster than her prelim time. Her finals time is also a season best.           
           
WHAT'S NEXT
Concordia will have a two-week break before heading to St. Paul for a pair of meets on the last weekend of January. The Cobbers will compete in the Hamline Triangular on Friday, Jan. 29 and then face St. Catherine in a dual meet on Saturday, Jan. 30.

Dragon Invite Day 1 Recap
MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/15/16)— Concordia jumped into the pool for the first time in 2016 and came away with several conference-qualifying times at the Dragon Invite held at MSU Moorhead.

The top event for the Cobbers at the first day of the invite, that featured mainly NCAA Division II competition, came in the third race where all three CC athletes posted career-best times in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Freshman Ciara White was fifth in the race with a time of 2:36.65 while Julie Bushard was eighth at 2:45.26 and Jordyn Templeton placed 15th after touching the wall in 3:01.01.

The top individual finish of the first day was put in by senior Annie Herkenhoff in the 1650-yard freestyle. Herkenhoff placed second in the race with a time of 19:02.87.

Sophomore Ann Marie O'Connell had a pair of top 10 finishes. She was fifth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:30.76 and then placed 10th in the 400-yard individual medley.

Alaina Dehnke recorded the other top 5 finish for Concordia on Day 1. She came home in 2:18.46 in the 200-yard backstroke and placed fifth in the event.

Madeline Johnson was 10th in the same 200-yard backstroke at 2:24.61and Lily Johnson was 10th in the 1650-yard freestyle with a mark of 20:43.77. Sarah Nelson also recorded a top 10 finish by placing seventh in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:37.14.

Friday also marked the return to the pool for junior Abbey Benson who spent the first semester studying in India. She earned a conference-qualifying time in the 200-yard backstroke by recording a time of 2:34.10.