Folkestad's Top 12 DIII Distance Leads Cobbers At SJU Invite

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (2/10/24)---The way super senior Cooper Folkestad is performing this season, Cobber head coach Garrick Larson is going to have every athlete take a year off. Folkestad, who sat out the entire 2024 season with an injury, posted the No.12  mark in Division III in the shot put this year and helped Concordia finish second in the final team standings at the St. John's Invitational.   

Folkestad entered the season with a PR of 54-01.25, which he set during his All-American season of 2022. Folkestad had steadily been creeping up on that mark this year but had never topped his No.2 mark in school history.

All that changed with his third attempt at the SJU Invite. Folkestad uncorked a distance of huge PR distance of 54-10, which won the event by almost three feet. His winning distance is No.2 in the MIAC this year and No.12 in DIII. However, it is still a way off the school record of 59-09.00 set by Hall of Famer Aaron Banks in 1996.

Freshman Brady Goss joined Folkestad in the winner's circle as the only two CC athletes to capture event titles. Goss clocked an 8:50.07 in the 3000 meters and won the race by 10 seconds. Goss continued his string of event wins during his first collegiate season. He has now won events in three of the four meets this indoor season.

Senior Tanner Olson also came through with a Top 3 finish in the 3000 meters. He posted a season-best time of 9:10.73 and placed third.

Logan Clark continued to defy logic by posting an identical time in the 60-meter hurdles in the prelims and finals. It is also the same time he posted last week at the meet at NDSU. Clark triplicated his time by crossing the line in 8.64. That time placed him second at SJU and No.8 in the MIAC.

Freshman Noah Bloch had the other Top 3 track finish. He was second in the 800s meter with a season-best mark of 2:14.05.      

Peyton Johnsrud, Anthony Marsh, Wade Rhonemus and Reese Strube had Top 3 finishes in field events.

Johnsrud, improving in each meet, cleared 6-02.75 in the high jump and placed second. That height is No.3 in the conference this year.

Marsh and Rhonemus recorded their Top 3 marks in the long jump. Marsh was second at 21-00.50 and Rhonemus was right behind in third at 20-11.75. Those distances are season bests for both athletes, who are now in the Top 6 of the MIAC.      

Rhonemus, who is prepping for the indoor heptathlon, also claimed fourth place in the pole vault with a season-best height of 13-09.25. That mark is No.9 in the conference this year.

Strube was third in the triple jump with a distance of 38-10.25.

UP NEXT: Concordia will prepare for the MIAC Championship Meet on Feb. 23-24 by competing at the UND Tune-Up on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 11 am.