Scheels Cobber Athletes Of The Week

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/22/16)—A pair of Concordia athletes who find themselves in the Top 10 of the MIAC are this week’s Scheels Cobber Athletes of the Week.

Senior men’s basketball player Austin Nelson had a career game in the season opener and then helped the Cobbers post a win in the home opener on Saturday while sophomore swimmer Ciara White raced to a Top 10 time in the conference at the team’s dual meet against the University of Mary.    

Scheels is once again pleased to sponsor the Cobber Athletes of the Week award.  Each week the Concordia sports information department will choose a deserving Cobber male and female athlete of the week.

MEN’S ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
AUSTIN NELSON – Sr., Moorhead, Minn./Moorhead HS
Nelson wasted little time stepping into the spotlight in the new season. Concordia graduated eight seniors from last year’s squad and were looking for an offensive leader. Nelson was up for the task in the season opener at Minn.-Morris as he went 7-for-15 from 3-point range and finished with a career-high 28 points. His previous career high was 21 points.

In addition to his 28 points, Nelson also had six rebounds and two assists.

Nelson backed his 28-point opener with a double-digit scoring outing in the home opener against Crown. He came away with 10 points, four rebounds and an assist in Concordia’s 24-point win.

Nelson is averaging 19.0 points per game this year which is eighth best in the MIAC this year. Last year he averaged 9.8 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.     
    
WOMEN’S ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
CIARA WHITE, So., Plymouth, Minn./Cooper HS
White brought her “A” game to the Cobbers’ dual meet with the University of Mary on Saturday. Swimming in the final meet of the 2016 calendar year, White won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:11.26. Her finishing time was almost two seconds faster than her previous season best.

What made the swim even more dramatic was the fact that White dueled one of the Division II Marauder swimmers for the entire final 25 yards. White was able to close out the Mary athlete in the final few strokes as she won the race by a mere .35 of a second.

White’s time was the seventh fastest in the MIAC this season and only .71 of a second off her fastest time from last year before the conference meet.

White has now won an individual event in two straight meets and in three of the four Cobber events this year.