Sakrismo Leads CC At Roy Griak
ST. PAUL, Minn. (9/24/11)-- On a warm sunny day at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational, Concordia senior Tanner Sakrismo raced to a career-best time of 27:19 to help the short-staffed Cobbers to a 20th-place finish in one of the top regional meets of the year.
The Griak course is one of the most difficult in the state, the constantly rolling terrain is known for leaving even the best athletes completely spent. Sakrismo had little trouble with the course as he maintained a brisk pace right from the start and even had enough left for a sprint finish down the shoot.
"He just did everything right," said teammate Tom Sederquist. "He ran under control the first mile, used all the downhills to his advantage, and then showed some guts at the end of the race." Sederquist is hoping that Sakrismo will continue to race like he did at the Griak as it will give the Cobbers a chance to have their best showing ever at the MIAC championships.
Overall, Concordia finished 20th out of 32 teams at the Griak. The finish was made more impressive by the fact that the Cobbers were missing their usual No.1 and No.2 runners. Tom Sederquist was out with the flu and Brad McConn sat out due to a hamstring injury. Sederquist was encouraged by the team's effort as he watched from the sidelines, "this race shows that we have depth," Sederquist commented. "It is nice to know we have a team where anybody can show up on any given day - and that is a sign of a good team. I am excited to see what this team can do at the MIAC Meet."
Concordia sophomore transfer Ryan Sederquist was the second CC runner to cross the finish line. Ryan Sederquist has shown a lot of promise early in the season - finishing second on the team and 18th overall at the MSU Moorhead Invitational on Sept. 9. Sederquist, who was a basketball player as well as a runner in high school, has a muscular build and a fast top end speed for a distance runner. He is starting to use both to his advantage as he continues to get more fit. Cobber senior Jake Stunek rounded out Concordia's top three at the Griak. Ryan Sederquist finished the course in a time of 28:11 and Stunek was close behind at 28:48.
Stunek has been under the radar for much of his career. Over the summer he put in more mileage than ever before and it is beginning to show in his performances. Stunek demonstrated his fitness level before the season even began by running a 1:20 to place in the top 10 at the Twin Cities Fourth of July Half Marathon. So far this year he has been a reliable fifth man for Concordia. In a sport where the top five runners on a team score points, the fifth man is often the place where meets are won and lost. With his new role as captain and scoring runner, Stunek will undoubtedly be spending a lot more time in the spotlight.
Finishing out the top 5 for CC were Andreas Rekdahl and John Buckanaga. Both runners are in their first season of collegiate cross country. Rekdahl has put in an incredible amount of mileage and is beginning to emerge as a solid runner. Buckanaga, a member of the state champion Bemidji 4x800 relay team, is a talented freshman with a lot of potential.
On Friday, the rest of the Cobbers competed at the St. Mary's Invite in Winona Minnesota. Led by sophomore Andy Rothfusz and freshmen Henry Dobbs, Concordia posted an eighth-place overall finish.