Faster & Faster Times Lead To Season-Best Dual Total

MORRIS, Minn. (11/22/14)—Sarah Nelson and Madeline Johnson led Concordia in their fourth straight dual meet to start the season as the Cobbers lost 152-88 at Minn.-Morris. The 88 team points scored by CC is the most in a dual meet this season.

Nelson kept her successful sophomore season rolling by winning the 100-yard butterfly. Her victory marks the third straight dual meet she has won an event. It is the first time she has won a butterfly competition. Nelson raced to a 1:04.01 at Morris and won the event by a full second. Her time is a season best as she continues to go faster and faster as the season progresses. Nelson also placed second in the 500-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 5:58.48.

Johnson, who has been successful in distance freestyle this season, earned her win in the 200-yard backstroke. She touched the wall in a time of 2:21.46. It was the first time this season that the 200-yard backstroke has been included in a dual meet.

Sophomore Andrea Kittleson had a pair of top 3 finishes at the meet. She was second in the 400-yard individual medley and third in the 100-yard breaststroke. Kittleson swam a 5:22.50 in the 400-yard IM – which is the fastest time by any Cobber in the vent this season. Her finishing time of 1:19.35 in the 100-yard breaststroke marks the first time she has broken the 1:20.00 barrier in the event.

Fellow sophomore Jackie Hanson also had a pair of top three finishes against the Cougars. She bettered in the 100-yard breaststroke by finishing in second place in a time of 1:17.62. That is a season-best mark for her in the event. Hanson was also second in the 100-yard freestyle. She clocked a 58.07 and was just .44 of a second behind the event winner. Hanson's finishing time is the fastest of any Concordia swimmer in the 100-yard freestyle this year. Her previous season best came in the opener at Northern State when she had a 58.74.

Concordia had three other swimmers record runner-up finishes in an event. Lily Johnson was second in the 1650-yard freestyle, Ann Marie O'Connell was the runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle and Siri Berry was second in the 50-yard freestyle. Johnson swam a 20:17.08 in the long distance freestyle event which turned out to be one of the most dramatic finishes in the meet as she out-touched teammate Jordyn Olson by a mere .14 of a second at the wall. It was only the second time this season the team has competed in the 1650-yard freestyle in a dual. Olson made a huge improvement on her previous time. She shaved a full 37 seconds off her time in the event from the season-opening meet at NSU.

O'Connell came home in 2:10.52 in the 200-yard freestyle and Berry recorded a time of 27.25 in the 50-yard freestyle. Berry's time is the fastest of any CC swimmer in that event this year.

Kayla Rauchwarter turned in the top diving performance for Concordia at Morris. She scored a total of 184.43 in the 1-meter diving competition and placed third.

Concordia's 400-meter relay team of Katrina Teskey, O'Connell, Nelson and Hanson turned in a season-best time of 3:57.53. That time is faster than any CC quartet posted in the regular season in all of last year.

The Cobbers will now have a two-week break before returning to action on Friday, Dec. 5. Concordia will start the multi-team invitational part of their schedule when they participate in the Jean Freeman Invitational on Dec.5-6 at the University of Minnesota.