Cobbers Post Best Region Finish Since 2000
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (11/10/12)—Spurred on by another great performance from No.1 runner Hannah Knickerbocker and a career comeback race from Nicole Woinarowicz Concordia posted their best finish at the NCAA Central Region Meet since 2000.
The Cobbers had all five of their scoring runners place in the top 75 and finished in eighth place with a team total of 275. In addition to their highest team finish in the past 12 years, it is also the first time CC has posted a top 10 finish at the regional meet. The last top 10 finish for the Cobber came back in 2002. Concordia also improved three places from their 11th-place finish in 2011.
Knickerbocker capped her 2012 season by narrowly missing earning All-Region honors. She was the team's No.1 runner in the six meets prior to the regional and made it all seven competitions in 2012 as she posted a 23:47.05 over the 6k course and finished in 36th place. Unfortunately for Knickerbocker the top 35 runners earn All-Region honors. She missed that award by only 6.2 seconds.
Woinarowicz, who was recovering from an injury prior to the MIAC Meet two weeks ago, improved her time at the conference race by a full 5.0 seconds. She is the only CC runner who improved her time from the MIAC Meet, which was also run at the St. Olaf College course. She is also believed to be one of the only athletes in the MIAC to improve her finishing time from the MIAC Meet. Woinarowicz ran a 24:29.6 and finished in 69th place. She was the team's No.4 runner after not being in the top 5 at the conference meet.
Morgan Christian continued her trend of being the No.2 harrier for the Cobbers. She made the top 50 at the region meet for the first time in her career. She ran a 24:07.0 and came home in 46th place. Kathryn Stalnaker just missed out on the top 50. She was 52nd in a time of 24:10.9. Paige Rygg completed the top 5 scoring runners for Concordia. She was right behind Stalnaker with a time of 24:31.8 and came home three spots after in 72nd place. Liz Hanson and Maddie Covington rounded out the team's seven runners at the meet. Hanson clocked a 25:31.7 and Covington crossed the finish line in 25:44.8.