Experience And Youth Pace Cobbers At MIAC Meet
The Cobbers were led by experience and youth at the MIAC Championship Meet. Senior Drew Frolek and first-year runner Ashley Nelson finished 1-2 for Concordia at the conference meet and helped Concordia claim eighth place in the final team standings in the 12-team field.
Recap courtesy of Ben Becker
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (11/02/24)--- The Cobbers were led by experience and youth at the MIAC Championship Meet. Senior Drew Frolek and first-year runner Ashley Nelson finished 1-2 for Concordia at the conference meet and helped Concordia claim eighth place in the final team standings in the 12-team field.
The Cobbers were 26 points behind seventh place and 65 points ahead of ninth-place Hamline.
Concordia was led for the third time this year by senior Drew Frolek. In the last conference meet of her career, Frolek posted a time of 23:56. That time is the fastest of her career at an MIAC Meet. Frolek's finishing time placed her just outside of the Top 25 individual finishers and All-Conference Honorable Mention honors. She placed 28th out of 156 runners. It was also the third straight meet that Frolek has gone under 24:00 on a 6K course.
Nelson was right behind Frolek with a finishing time of 24:05. That time placed her 32nd overall and was 32 seconds faster than her time she ran at the same course on September 21.
Nelson's place marked the first time since 2015 that the Cobbers have had a first-year runner in the top 35 at the MIAC Meet. Nelson also finished seventh among first-year runners at the meet.
The third finisher for the Cobbers was fellow first-year runner Kelyn Henry-Perlich. Henry-Perlich ran a personal best time of 24:35. Her new personal-best time was good for a Top 45 finish at 42nd place. It was the third meet in a row that Henry-Perlich has achieved a personal best time.
Henry-Perlich has been one of the Cobber's most consistent runners as she has dropped 1:24 from her first 6k race at St. Olaf back in September.
Nelson's 32nd-place finish and Henry-Perlich's 42nd-place finish marked the first time since 2006 the Cobbers have had two first-year runners within the top 45 at the conference meet.
Also competing in her final MIAC race was Airial Johnson. She ran a season-best time of 25:18, placing her 65th overall. Johnson cut one 1:57 from her time in September.
Like Frolek, this was Johnson's fastest career time at a conference meet.
Finishing off the CC Top 5 was sophomore Londyn Ames, who was less than a second behind Johnson. She posted a personal-best time of 25:19. That mark was 41 seconds faster than her previous personal best. Ames also improved on her time from the September meet at St. Olaf by 1:25. With her time, Ames placed 66th overall.
Johnson and Ames ran the entire race with each other with Johnson waving and telling Ames keep the pace in the final 100 meters.
The Cobbers dropped a combined total of 5:25 from their first 6k at St. Olaf back in September.
Concordia will have a two-week training period before they return to Northfield. This time the Cobbers will be on the east side of the Cannon River as they will compete at the host site for the 2026 NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Cross[1]Country Championships, Carleton College. Carleton will host this year's NCAA North Regional Meet on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 11 a.m.
Drew Frolek And Ashley Nelson Post-Meet Interview