Four Cobbers Named USTFCCCA All-Region
Senior Cooper Folkestad (Wadena, Minn./Wadena-Deer Creek HS), junior Kyla Nygaard (Maple Grove, Minn.) and sophomores Brady Goss (Devils Lake, N.D.) and Genevieve Gruba (Enderlin, Minn.) all received the All-Region award for finishing in the Top 5 in the region in an individual event.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/21/25)---Four Concordia athletes earned United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) North All-Region honors.
Senior Cooper Folkestad (Wadena, Minn./Wadena-Deer Creek HS), junior Kyla Nygaard (Maple Grove, Minn.) and sophomores Brady Goss (Devils Lake, N.D.) and Genevieve Gruba (Enderlin, Minn.) all received the All-Region award for finishing in the Top 5 in the region in an individual event.
Folkestad and Nygaard back up their indoor All-Region honors earlier in the 2025 season with the outdoor USTFCCCA award, while Gruba earns her second straight outdoor All-Region honor.
The Top 5 individuals in each event from each region on the year-end Descending Order Lists earned All-Region distinction, in addition to each member of the region's top-3 relay teams. The regions used for this award – East, Great Lakes, Metro, Mid-Atlantic, Mideast, Midwest, Niagara, North, South, and West – match those used during the cross country season.
The All-Region honor is the fifth of his career for Folkestad, and the second straight outdoor All-Region honor.
Folkestad earned All-Region honors in the shot put and discus. He posted the top distance of any athlete in Division III in the shot put and was No.4 in the region in the discus.
Folkestad's No.1 performance in the shot put came at the Cobber Open on May 3 when he posted a school-record distance of 61-01.25. His All-Region feat in the discus came at the Drake Relays with a mark of 172-05.
Nygaard earned indoor All-Region honors in the 400 meters this season and claimed the All-Region award in the 800 meters for the outdoor campaign. She clocked a 2:11.36 at the Augustana (Ill.) Midwest Twilight Qualifier on May 10. That time pushed her into the No.4 spot in the North Region.
Goss earns the first All-Region award of his career. Like Folkestad, he was also ranked No.1 in the country in an event. Goss posted a Cobber program-record time of 8:46.29 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase en route to winning the MIAC championship. Goss also won the MIAC outdoor title in the 1500 meters.
Gruba continued to shine in the javelin during her second collegiate season. She had a season-best mark of 133-11 at the Wis.-La Crosse NCAA Qualifier Meet which moved her into the fifth, and final, spot for All-Region honors.
Past Cobber USTFCCCA Outdoor All-Region Award Winners
2024 - Genevieve Gruba (javelin)
2021 - Josie Herrmann (800 meters, 1500 meters), Cayle Hovland (shot put), Peyton Selle (heptathlon)
2018 - Bailey Hovland (hammer)
2017 - Mikayla Forness (javelin, heptathlon), Bailey Hovland (hammer), Vanessa Johnson (high jump), Mandy Mercil (shot put)
2016 - Mikayla Forness (javelin, heptathlon), Vanessa Johnson (high jump), Olivia Johnson (shot put, javelin), Hannah Lundstrom (200 meters), Emma Peterson (high jump)