Business As Usual At Roy Griak Invitational

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (9/27/14)—Concordia returned to racing after a two-week training break and it was business as usual for sophomore Kaya Baker who led the Cobbers for the fourth straight meet by placing in the top 40 at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational.

Baker's time of 24:57.2 over the 6k course helped Concordia finish in 14th place in a meet that featured 20 of the top teams in the region and 300 athletes from around the Midwest.

Baker has stepped into the team's No.1 spot this season and has showed no signs of relinquishing that role. She bettered the next top time for Concordia by almost a full two minutes.

Freshman Sarah Curran has been the team's consistent No.2 finisher this season and she grabbed that same spot at the Griak. Curran raced to a time of 26:44.5 which was good for 79th place.

The Cobbers had their next three finishers all cross the line within eight seconds of one another and all were within five places of each other. The pack mentality helped Anja Smith, Liz Stageberg and Susan Drache keep pace around the farthest course they have raced all season. Smith led the trio with a time 27:33.9 and came home in 93rd place. Stageberg was in the No.96 spot with a time of 27:41.6 and Drache was right on Stageberg's heels with a mark of 27:41.9 and finished one spot behind in 97th place.

Concordia will have another two-week training period before returning to competition at the Jamestown Invitational on Friday, Oct. 3 at the Hillcrest GC.