One Up, One Down In Season Opener
Concordia won a dual meet and lost a dual meet in the season-opening Cobber Traingular with Minn.-Morris and College of St. Mary.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/27/17)---Concordia dove into the 2017-18 season by splitting a pair of dual battles at the Cobber Triangular Meet.
Concordia used event wins from returners Ciara White and Alaina Dehnke and freshman Anna Backes and beat College of St. Mary (Neb.) 128-79 while the Cobbers lost to Minn.-Morris 128-100.
The biggest splash of the night was made by Backes who won two individual events in her very first collegiate meet. Backes swam a 26.57 in the 50-yard freestyle, her very first event of the night, and won the race by a full second. Her time was only .04 of a second slower than the fastest Cobber athlete posted at the MIAC championship meet in 2017.
Backes then turned the sprint freestyle double by coming away with the crown in the 100-yard freestyle event. She touched the wall in a time of 57.23 which beat out the second-place finisher in the race by a mere .02 of a second. Backes' time of 57.23 was faster than any CC swimmer last season and only .46 of a second off the last "B" meet qualifying time at last year's conference championship meet.
White started her trek towards all-conference honors by winning the 100-yard breaststroke. She swam a 1:12.96 in the 100-yard breaststroke to earn the victory by almost four full seconds. Her finishing time is also .28 of a second faster than she clocked at the same meet last season. White rounded out the first meet of the year by placing fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:13.45.
Dehnke earned her win when she swam away from the competition in 500-yard freestyle. She clocked a 5:46.59 which was 17 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Dehnke also placed second in the 200-yard freestyle with a mark of 2:13.33.
The other big swim at the meet came from freshman Amy Warren who sped to a 2:21.05 in the 200-yard individual medley and placed second in the race. Her time is what caught everyone's attention as it is less than three seconds off the school record. Warren also placed second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:06.70.
Concordia was also buoyed by the return of the dive team. Freshman Cassandra Bohnsack placed third in both 1-meter diving competitions.
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will turn around get right back in the pool as they will host the College of St. Mary in a single dual meet on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m.