"So Closes" On First Full Day At The MIAC Meet
The first full day of competition at the MIAC Championship Meet had several “so closes” for Concordia. The Cobbers just missed out on a pair of finals’ entries and a school record. In the end, Concordia swam a season-best time in the 400-yard medley relay and finished in eighth place in the team standings after Thursday’s events.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (2/15/24)---The first full day of competition at the MIAC Championship Meet had several "so closes" for Concordia. The Cobbers just missed out on a pair of finals' entries and a school record.
In the end, Concordia swam a season-best time in the 400-yard medley relay and finished in eighth place in the team standings after Thursday's events.
First-year swimmer Callie Metsala and junior diver Kiernan Darling delivered the "so close" performances for the Cobbers during the morning's prelim events.
Metsala started her first conference meet by swimming a 2:17.96 in the 200-yard individual medley. Her finishing time placed her 17th in the prelims – only 0.11 of a second away from qualifying for the two finals' races in the night session.
Metsala's time was a season best and almost broke the Concordia school record of 2:17.13 set by Amy Warren in 2018.
Darling took to the board for her first event of the meet later in the afternoon. She competed in the prelims of the 1-meter competition and came away with a 9th-place finish. Darling scored 306.00 points, which was 29.65 away from qualifying for the finals.
Darling's score is a big improvement from last year's conference meet. She scored 270.20 points in 2023 and was the No.17 finisher in the event.
The other top performance turned in by a Cobber on Thursday came from Hailey Jaeger. Jaeger posted a season-best time of 25.63 in the 50-yard freestyle. She was .54 of a second away from qualifying for the B final.
The Cobber 400-yard medley relay team of Jaeger, Haley Juetten, Christina Moore and Brienna Timm took center stage in the night session. They swam a season-best time of 4:31.41 and placed seventh.
Concordia opened the 2024 MIAC Meet by swimming in a pair of relay events on Wednesday night. The Cobbers' 200-yard medley relay squad of Moore, Juetten, Metsala and Jaeger clocked a 1:57.62 and finished seventh. Their time is a season best and 0.14 of a second faster than last year's mark at the MIAC Meet.
The final event on Wednesday night was the 800-yard freestyle relay. Jaeger, Metsala, Rachel Andersen and Timm competed for CC and came home in a season-best time of 8:48.03.
UP NEXT: The Cobbers will continue with the conference meet on Friday, Feb. 15 at the Jean Freeman Aquatic Center on the campus of the Univ. of Minnesota. The prelims are scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. and the finals at 6:30 p.m.