Individual Event Success On Senior Day

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/21/15)—Concordia won five of the nine swimming events against Minn.-Morris but lost 131-104 to the Cougars in the annual Senior Day dual meet.

The Cobbers outscored Morris 98-73 in individual events but were done in by the diving and relay events in the dual meet. Minn.-Morris held a 32-point advantage in the two diving events and was another plus-20 in the two relay races.

Annie Herkenhoff celebrated her Senior Day by winning the 1000-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Her win in the 1000-yard freestyle came in the first individual event of the afternoon. She raced to an 11:29.30 and won the event by almost a full minute. Her time is a season best by 19 seconds.

Herkenhoff touched the wall in a time of 5:39.54 in the 500-yard freestyle which is also a season best. She won the race by 11.17 seconds. Herkenhoff has now had at least two top 3 finishes in all three meets for the Cobbers this year.

After Herkenhoff's win in the opening race of the day, Concordia would have to wait for five events to post their next individual event win. From there the Cobbers would win four of the final five individual races in the meet.

Sarah Nelson broke the four-event drought for Concordia as she won the 100-yard butterfly with a mark of 1:04.22. She was able to reach the pad in a mere .39 of second before the top finisher from Morris. Nelson also finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 26.94.

Ann Marie O'Connell finished third in the 100-yard butterfly in a season-best time of 1:07.91. It was O'Connell's second top 3 finish in three races.  She also placed second in the 400-yard individual medley in a time of 5:18.61 which was a season best time by over seven seconds.

Madeline Johnson, Herkenhoff and Ciara White won consecutive races to finish off the individual event portion of the meet.

Johnson won the 100-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:04.72. She beat teammates Libby Hardwick and Alaina Dehnke as Concordia recorded a 1-2-3 finish. Johnson's finishing time was a season best by .05 of a second.  Dehnke also posted a third-place finish in the 50-tard freestyle.

Johnson was also third in the 200-yard freestyle at2:11.21.  

Herkenhoff won her second event of the day in the 500-yard freestyle before White capped the trio of wins with a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke.  White swam a 1:11.94 to win the event by over two seconds.

Joleen Plekkenpol came away with a pair of second-place finishes in freestyle events. She was second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:07.80 in the third event of the day and then posted a 59.99 in the 100-yard freestyle in the eighth event of the afternoon. Both times were season best marks and the finishing mark in the 100-yard freestyle is the first time she has bettered the 1-minute barrier.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will finish off the 2015 portion of their season slate when they swim in the Jean Freeman Invitational held at the University of Minnesota on Dec. 4 and 5.