Relay Teams To The Rescue At Day 2 Of MIAC Meet
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (2/15/13)—For the second straight day at the MIAC Championship Meet Concordia relied on their relay teams to score critical team points. The Cobbers beat their Day 1 team total by one point and finished Friday with 95 total team points.
The best finish by a Cobber relay unit was turned in by the 800-yard freestyle team of Rachel Aldinger, Joleen Baker, Jordan Peterson and Amanda Suchanek who swam an 8:30.50 in the finals and placed seventh. That time was a walloping 20 seconds faster than their seed time and five seconds faster than last year's final mark.
The 800-yard freestyle was Friday night's finale while the 200-yard medley relay kicked off the night session on Day 2. Kelsey Appert, Megan Obrecht, Emily Erickson and Suchanek started the night by turning in a 1:59.41 which was a season best and marked the first sub 2-minute time since last year's conference meet.
Cobber freshman diver Jana Hedstrom was locked in the most dramatic individual competition of Friday. Hedstrom qualified for the second round in the 3-meter competition on Thursday and then barely missed making the finals. Hedstrom scored 316.05 in the semifinals and finished in 10th place in the event. The top eight made the finals for Friday night with the last qualifier posting a total score less than 12 points above Hedstrom. Hedstrom's semifinal total is a season best score.
In the swimming preliminaries, Erickson, Obrecht, Greta Titus, Appert and Jordan Peterson all recorded top 25 finishes. Erickson swam a 1:06.57 in the 100-yard butterfly and was the top swimming finisher of the day in 20th place. Obrecht clocked a 1:14.68 in the 100-yard breaststroke and placed 23rd while Titus, Appert and Peterson all came away with top 25 finishes in the 100-yard backstroke. Titus led the trio with a time of 1:06.33 and was 21st.
All five top 25 swimming finishers recorded season-best times by over one full second.
Concordia will finish off the 2013 MIAC Meet on Saturday, Feb. 16. Prelims start at 10:30 a.m. with the finals scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Both sessions will be held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
Women's Team Scores (after day two)
1. Gustavus - 488
2. St. Thomas 463
3. St. Olaf - 419
4. Carleton - 247
5. Saint Benedict - 244
6. St. Catherine -167
7. Macalester - 129
8. Hamline - 122
9. Concordia - 95
10. Saint Mary's - 61
11. Augsburg - 56