Six Top 20 Finishes In St. Bonifacius
Concordia had six athletes finish in the Top 20 to help the Cobbers place second at the four-team St. Bonifacius Invite hosted by Crown College.
ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. (10/14/17)---Kara Andersen and Brianna Gruenberg recorded Top 10 finishes and Concordia had six athletes finish in the Top 20 to help the Cobbers place second at the four-team St. Bonifacius Invite hosted by Crown College.
Andersen claimed the top spot for the Cobbers after Gruenberg had been the team's No.1 runner for the past three meets. The two have each held the No.1 spot for the team in three meets this year and the pair has owned the Top 2 spots on the team for all five meets where both have run.
Andersen covered the 6K course in a time of 24:32 which was 14 seconds faster than Gruenberg who crossed the tape in 24:46.
Andersen's time was 2-seconds faster than Gruenberg's 2016 time at the same meet when she claimed individual champion honors. Last year Andersen ran a time of 26:00 at the same meet.
This year Andersen came home with a fifth-place finish while Gruenberg was right behind in sixth place.
Maria West had one of the most dramatic finishes of the day. She narrowly missed a Top 10 finish by finishing in 11th place in a time of 25:29. West's finishing time was a mere 1.24 seconds behind the 10th place finisher as the two battled all the way to the finish line. Her time was also almost a minute faster than her mark in 2016.
Junior Sara Whiteman gave the Cobbers four finishers in the Top 15 as Concordia ended the meet with a team total score of 44. Whiteman was the No.14 finisher at the invite with a mark of 25:38. Whiteman improved by 19-seconds from her time from a year ago.
Erica Hauf continued her solid senior season. She has been consistently in the Top 6 for the Cobbers during the year and placed 17th at the St. Bonifacius meet with a time of 26:28. Teammate Tarja Nelsen came through in 18th place to give CC six runners in the Top 20.
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will have a two-week break to prepare for the MIAC Championship Meet. The Cobbers will compete in the conference race on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 12 p.m. at St. Olaf. Last year the Cobbers finished seventh at the MIAC Meet.