Return To Action Sees Return To Season-Best Times

ST. PAUL, Minn. (12/03/22)---Concordia picked up right where they left off at the start of November when they opened their season with back-to-back dual meet. It had been almost a full month since Concordia had last been in the pool for a competitive event, but the Cobbers showed no signs of going backwards as they posted multiple season-best times and personal best marks at the Macalester Invite.

Sophomore Kiernan Darling continues to progress in her second season of collegiate diving. Darling completed her dive list in both the 1-meter and 3-meter and recorded Top 5 finishes in both events. She scored a total of 308.00 points and was third in the 3-meter, and then came away with a fourth-place finish in the 1-meter with 324.30 points.

Both of Darling's point totals are career bests at a multiple-team invitational, and better the scores she posted at last season's MIAC Championship Meet. Darling also had the only two Top 10 finishes for the Cobbers at the meet.

Senior Kaitlin Cramer had one of the best meets of any Cobber on the weekend. She dropped a full 6-seconds in the 200-yard freestyle when she touched the wall in 2:13.14. Cramer then record a season-best time in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:24.49 which was good for a 12th-place finish in a raced that featured Division I and II athletes.

Fellow senior Lindsey Biebl also had a pair of big time drops in the meet. She swam a 6:06.75 in the 400-yard individual medley which represented a 6-second drop in her season best mark. Biebl also had a 4-second drop in the 200-yard breaststroke when she came home with a time of 3:11.01.

Junior Brienna Timm came through with a time of 2:39.68 in the 200-yard individual medley which is faster than any mark she posted last season before the conference meet.

Jess Bray, Camille Gunderson and Christina Moore all had season-best times during the 2-day meet. Bray finished the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 27.86 which is a full second faster than her previous top time this year. Gunderson also had a season-best mark in the 50-yard freestyle and was an eyelash away from posting a PR. She clocked a 27.36 which was a mere .30 of a second off of her all-time best time. Moore's top performance came in the 200-yard individual medley where she finished in 2:44.3 which is 3-seconds better than her previous best time in 2022.

The 800-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay teams had the best marks of meet for CC. The 800-yard quartet of Cramer, Bray, Timm and Hailey Jaeger swam 6-seconds faster than any relay team did last year before the MIAC Meet. They clocked a 9:04.85 and were in seventh place. The team of Cramer, Bray, Jaeger and Haley Juetten recorded a season-best time by 10-seconds when they posted a mark of 4:35.72 in the 400-yard medley relay.

UP NEXT: Concordia will have another extended break before they ramp up competition in the New Year. The Cobbers will take a training trip to Florida over the holiday break at the end of December.