Hedstrom Leads Bright-Future Youngsters

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (2/15/14)—The future continues to look bright for Concordia as they had another day of quality performances from underclassmen and finished in eighth place at the MIAC Championship Meet. The eighth-place finish is up one spot from last year's spot at the conference meet.

The biggest individual point getter for the Cobbers at the 2014 meet was sophomore diver Jana Hedstrom. A day after finishing seventh in the 3-meter competition, Hedstrom posted her career-best conference finish by claiming fifth place in the 1-meter event. She qualified for the finals by finishing seventh in the prelims but then broke off a score of 357.40 in the finals and earned a spot in the top 5.

Hedstrom's seventh and fifth-place finishes in the diving events added up to 26 team points for Concordia. The Cobbers finished the meet with 129 points.

The final relay of the event netted Concordia their third "podium" finish. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Joleen Baker, Andrea Kittleson, Libby Hardwick and Greta Titus swam a 3:47.84 and placed eighth in the finals. That time was almost 12 seconds faster than their seed time.

The final day of competition saw more stellar season-best individual performances in the preliminary heats.

Hannah Winge was the top CC individual on Day 3. She swam to a 19th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke. Her finishing time of 2:35.95 was 8-seconds faster than her previous season best.

Teammates Megan Obrecht and Kittleson also had top 25 finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke. Obrect was 21st in a time of 2:38.44 while Kittleson came home in 2:43.69 and was 24th. Both times were season bests.  

Hardwick capped her first collegiate conference meet by clocking a 2:19.74 in the 200-yard backstroke and finishing in the No.22 spot. On Friday she earned a place in the "B" final in the 100-yard backstroke to become the only Cobber swimmer to swim in a final in an event.

Baker came away with a top 25 finish in the 100-yard freestyle and Abbey Benson and Diana Kempenich were 23rd and 24th in the same event.

Women's Team Scores
1. Gustavus - 886.5
2. St. Thomas – 697
3. St. Olaf - 507.5
4. Saint Benedict – 368
5. Carleton - 350  
6. St. Catherine – 275
7. Macalester – 226
8. Concordia – 129
9. Augsburg – 115
10. Hamline – 78
11. Saint Mary's - 70