Team Health = Team Success
Concordia had their entire race in the season-opening Cobber Invite and came away with seven of the Top 9 spots in the meet.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/01/17)---Concordia head coach Marv Roeske didn't what kind of team he had before the first meet of the year. If the season-opening Cobber Invite is any indication of things to come then Roeske should be a very happy coach in 2017.
Concordia recorded the rare 1-2-3-4 finish, had seven runners place in the Top 9 and ran away with the team title against Minn.-Morris and Jamestown. It marks the second straight year that the Cobbers have won their home meet over the Cougars and Jimmies.
"It's the first time I can recall that we had everyone on the roster run in the opening meet," said Roeske. "I think we used our team chemistry and strength to come away with some great results."
Sophomore Kara Andersen was the poster athlete for the Cobbers' new-found team strength. She ran away from a pack of six runners in the final mile to earn her first collegiate victory. Andersen won the home event by over 20 seconds as she found another gear in the final stretch.
Andersen crossed the line in a time of 19:43 which is a personal best. Her time represents an 80-second improvement over last year's mark when she finished eighth at the meet.
Andersen led the trio of Brianna Gruenberg, Sarah Curran and Maria West across the line to give CC a 1-2-3-4 finish. Gruenberg recorded her second straight Top 3 finish at the Cobber Invite. She placed third in 2016 and did that one better by coming home in second place in a time of 20:04. Curran was third with a time of 20:10 and she also came away with her second straight Top 3 finish at the Cobber Invite after claiming a runner-up finish in last year's meet. West was fourth with a time of 20:11 which was a 50-second improvement over her time from last year.
Sarah Whiteman, Erica Hauf and Tarja Nelsen complete Concordia's Top 9 finishers. Whiteman was seventh at 20:42, while Hauf crossed the line in 20:55 and Nelsen clocked a 20:59. All three times represent significant improvements over last year's marks at the same meet.
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will stay in town for the second meet of the season. The Cobbers will compete in the only night meet of the year when they race at the MSU Moorhead Twilight Meet on Friday, Sept. 8 beginning at 8:15 p.m. at the Tri-City Soccer Complex in Moorhead.