1-2-3 Punch At St. Olaf Invite

NORTHFIELD, Minn. (9/17/16)—Concordia packed a 1-2-3 punch and finished 14th at the St. Olaf Invite in a field that included multiple NCAA Division II programs and a pair of Top 10 Division III teams.

Brandon Quibell, Matthew Lillehaugen and Eric Wicklund all finished within four seconds of one another to give the Cobbers a trio of runners in the Top 60 finishers that counted in the team standings.

Concordia finished with a final team total of 398 points which was 24 better than Beloit who claimed 15th place.

Quibell earned his second top team finish in the first three meets of the season. He paced the Cobbers at the season-opening Cobber Invite with a third-place finish. He skipped last Friday's MSUM Twilight Meet and then posted the team's fastest time at St. Olaf. He ran the 8K course in a time of 27:56.

Lillehaugen and Wicklund finished with identical times of 28:00. Lillehaugen has been in the Top 3 of the team in all three meets this season. Lillehaugen was the team's No.2 runner in the opener as he placed fourth. He then led the team last week at the MSUM Twilight.         

Wicklund, who missed the first meet of the season, has now been in the Top 3 in the first two collegiate meets of his career. He ran a 20:31.4 last week at the 6K course and was the No.2 runner on the team and was tied for second on Saturday.

Nick Solheim and Will Corbett rounded out the Top 5 for Concordia. Solheim clocked a 29:41 and has been in the team's Top 5 in both meets he has participated in this year. Corbett has been another mainstay in the Top 5 in 2016. He finished in a time of 30:15.0 in Northfield.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will have a two-week break and then return to Northfield when they compete in the Running of the Cows meet hosted by Carleton on Saturday, Oct. 1.