A Double Scoop Of All-American Goodness

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (03/12/22)---What's better than one All-American? How about two All-Americans? Cal Wright and Cooper Folkestad delivered that storyline as they finished in the Top 8 in their events at the NCAA Division National Indoor Championship Meet.

Wright and Folkestad earned All-American honors for the first time in their careers, and became the first Cobber athletes to earn All-American honors at an indoor national meet since 1996.  

The pair of All-Americans helped Concordia finish the national meet rollercoaster at the top of ride. Wright and Folkestad were the only two of the six Cobber athletes at the meet to qualify for the finals in their event. Junior Wade Rhonemus competed in the heptathlon and posted an 18th-place finish in the 2-day competition.

The two All-American finishes also helped the Cobbers finish with seven team points at the meet. CC finished in 30th place which was the top team finish by any school in the MIAC. 

Wright and Folkestad earned their All-American honors within 15 minutes of one another.

Wright qualified for the finals in the 400 meters by clocking a 48.82 in the prelims on Friday. That qualifying time put him in the first of two heats in the finals. Wright ended up finishing second in the first heat in a time of 48.99. He led the heat for most of the first 1.5 laps, but was caught down the stretch and finished third.

Wright's time of 48.99 would be the fifth fastest among the eight finishers. His fifth-place finish ties teammate Jesse Middendorf for the highest finish by a Cobber athlete at a national meet since 1996.

Folkestad was right behind Wright in the All-American parade. He duplicated his performance at the NCAA Qualifier by posting his best distance in the final attempt of the prelims. Folkestad, who was competing in the second of two flights in the shot put, opened his first-ever national meet with a solid mark of 50-06.00 on his first attempt. That mark would have advanced him to the finals, but would have not earned him All-American honors.

Folkestad's All-American "time to shine" came on his third attempt of the prelims when he uncorked a distance of 52-07.25. That mark pushed him into third place heading into the finals. Folkestad was unable to better his distance in the three finals' attempts and finished in sixth place in the event.

Folkestad's sixth-place finish is the highest by a Cobber field athlete at an NCAA Indoor National Meet since 3-time national champion won the shot put at the 1996 meet.

Rhonemus capped his first national meet by competing in the final three events of the heptathlon. He finished the seven events with a total of 4,445 points.
 
Rhonemus started Saturday by running a 9.19 in the 60-meter hurdles which earned him 704 points – his second 700-point events of the heptathlon. Rhonemus then headed to the pole vault pit where he was one of the final seven athletes remaining in the event. He finished with a height of 13-01.50 which gave him 617 points.

Rhonemus ended the heptathlon with his second highest scoring event. He went out with a time of 2:55.22 in the 1000 meters. That time is a season best for Rhonemus and earned his 712 points.     

COBBER NCAA INDOOR ALL-AMERICANS
2022 - Cooper Folkestad - Shot Put
2022 - Cal Wright - 400 Meters
2020 – Matt Bye - Pentathlon (Not contested)
2020 - Jesse Middendorf - 800 Meters (Not contested)
1996 – Aaron Banks – Shot Put & Weight Throw
1995 – Aaron Banks – Shot Put & Weight Throw
1994 – Aaron Banks – Shot Put & Weight Throw
1993 - Kyle Johnson - 800 Meters
1992 – Jon Ault – Weight Throw
1991 – Jon Ault – Shot Put & Weight Throw