Showdown At The 400-Meter Corral

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (4/10/21)---Concordia returned to St. John's for the second time in two weeks and came away with six event wins, several Top 20 program marks and finished second in the 6-team St. John's Last-Minute Meet.

The Cobbers accumulated 164 points and were one of only two teams in the meet with more than 75 points.

The meet, which started at 4 p.m. and finished under the lights, showcased the Cobber sprint/middle distance dynamic duo of Cal Wright and Jesse Middendorf. The two electrified the track in the 400 meters and then revived that drama in the 4x400-meter relay.

Wright earned the event win in the 400 meters with a time of 48.64. That is the second fastest time in school history and the fastest by a Cobber since the 1984 season. It is also in the Top 15 of the country. Middendorf, who owns the fourth fastest time in DIII in the 800, was just behind Wright at the finishing line and posted a time of 48.89. That mark is fifth fastest in program history.

The two would then anchor the two Cobber 4x4 relay teams which finished first and second. Wright came home first in the relay after Simon Zahrbock, Colin Schuller and Dawson Schaffer started the race. The winning time was 3:25.17 and was a mere .28 of a second ahead of Middendorf who finished the leg for the quartet of Dan Wilson, Munir Isahak and Michael Miller.            

Isahak was one of the five individual event winners for CC. He won the 800 meters in a time of 1:57.53 which is a personal best and beat Wilson, who finished second, by 1.69 seconds.

The final track win for the Cobbers came from Cole Nowacki who made a splash in his first-ever collegiate 3000-meter steeplechase. Nowacki came home in 10:08.53 which is No.17 on the school's all-time list.

The other notable track performance came from Leo Smith who was runner-up in the 5000 meters but his finishing time of 15:28.72 is the eighth fastest in program history.

Jake Steiner and Cooper Folkestad claimed wins in throwing events. Steiner put up a distance of 163-01 in the hammer and won the event by over 11 feet. Steiner was also third in the shot put at 50-00.25.

Folkestad picked up his second win of the season in the discus. He recorded a winning mark of 143-05 which was just shy of the PR he put up last weekend at NDSU. Folkestad was also second in the shot put with a distance of 51-00.00. It marks the second straight meet he has gone over 50 feet.   
 
UP NEXT: Concordia will stay in Moorhead for their next meet. The Cobbers will travel across eighth street to compete in the MSU Moorhead Twilight Meet on Thursday, Apr. 15 at 12 p.m.       

RECAP SPONSOR: Today's recap sponsor is Red River Trails. Cobber athletics would like to thank Red River Trails for their continued support of Concordia student/athletes.