A Trifecta Of School Records
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (2/17/19)---Make it three straight days and three school records. Sophomore Amy Warren completed her record-setting MIAC Championship Meet by knocking of the program record in the 200-yard butterfly on the final day of competition at the conference meet.
The third school record comes after Warren busted the old mark in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday and the 400-yard individual medley record on Saturday.
Not only did Warren break the school record in the 200-yard butterfly on Sunday but she also became the first Concordia swimmer to qualify for an "A" final race since 2011. Warren's success on Day 4 at the MIAC Meet helped the Cobbers maintain eighth place in the final team standings.
The eighth-place finish for Concordia is the highest since 2016 when they also finished in eighth place. The Cobbers finished with 132.5 total points which is also the highest since 2016 when they finished with 142 points. The 132.5 points is up 15.5 points from last year's total of 117 when they finished in ninth place.
Warren was also one of two Cobber athletes who earned team points on the final day of the meet. Senior Ciara White finished off her college career by placing 15th in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Warren's record-setting race came in the prelims of the 200-yard butterfly. She entered the event seeded 23rd in the conference with a season-best time of 2:25.42 which she posted on Nov. 30 at the Cobber/Dragon Invite. Warren completely obliterated her season-best time in the event by racing to a time of 2:16.28. That mark broke the school record of 2:17.64 set by Sarah Nelson in 2017.
Warren's time was the seventh fastest of any competitor in the 200-yard butterfly and earned her a spot in the 8-athlete "A" final. It marked the first time a Cobber swimmer has qualified for an "A" final since 2011 when Kara Shugren placed sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Warren went on to finish seventh in the "A" final during the evening session as she touched the wall in a time of 2:19.09. Her seventh-place finish is the highest by a Cobber swimmer since 2016 when Annie Herkenhoff finished third in the 1650-yard freestyle – a race that only has one final race at the MIAC meet.
White was one of two other Cobber swimmers to compete in the evening session on Day 4 of the conference meet. She qualified for the "B" final in the 200-yard breaststroke. White swam a season-best 2:32.98 in the prelims which was the 15th fastest. She then clocked a 2:33.72 in the finals which was also good for 15th place.
White also earned team points in the 100-yard breaststroke where she also placed 15th.
The Sunday evening session started with the 1650-yard freestyle where sophomore Anna Backes placed 17th with a personal-best time of 18:58.66. It marked only the second time in her career that she has swam the "wet mile".
Concordia finished off the 2019 MIAC Championship Meet by placing ninth in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Cobber quartet swam a 3:46.23 which was a season-best time by 8.88 seconds.
Senior Alaina Dehnke narrowly missed out on another "B" final in the backstroke. On Saturday she was edged out in a swim off for the final spot in the 100-yard backstroke and then on Sunday she came home in a time of 2:13.06 in the 200-yard backstroke which missed the "B" final by .84 of a second.
Freshman Katelynn Smith and sophomore Allison Marcus had the only other Top 25 finishes for the Cobbers on Day 4. Smith swam a season-best time of 58.27 in the prelims of the 100-yard freestyle and placed 24th while Marcus was 22nd in the 200-yard breaststroke with a season-best mark of 2:43.65.
2019 MIAC Championship Meet Final Team Standings
1. University of Saint Thomas - 797
2. Gustavus Adolphus College - 588
3. Saint Catherine University - 587
4. Saint Olaf College - 440
5. Carleton College - 413.5
6. College of Saint Benedict - 305
7. Hamline University - 174
8. Concordia - 132.5
9. Macalester College - 91
10. Saint Mary's - 81
11. Augsburg College - 75