Miles Of Training Lead To Best-Ever Team Finish
ST. PAUL, Minn. (9/28/13)—Ryan Sederquist's tireless training regimen continues to pay dividends as he led Concordia at the Roy Griak Invite hosted by the University of Minnesota at Les Bolstad GC.
Sederquist, who has been logging 100-mile training weeks, clocked a 27:14 and finished in 35th place out of 300 runners at the meet. His time was the third best among MIAC runners at the meet. Sederquist didn't compete at the Roy Griak last year but his finishing time was almost a full minute faster than his time in 2011. Sederquist crossed the line in 28:11.2 in his sophomore season.
Sederquist's work ethic helped Concordia finish 16th as a team. That is four places better than their finish in 2012 and 2011. It is the Cobbers' best-ever finish at the Roy Griak Invite.
The second storyline for Concordia behind Sederquist was the continued success of the kiddie Cobbers. Concordia's freshmen corps posted five runners in the top 7 of the team. First-year runners Matthew Lillehaugen and Carl Wahlin were the only other CC athletes to finish in the top 100. Lillehaugen continues to be the No.2 runner for CC. He ran a 28:12.8 and was 68th in his very first Griak. Wahlin was just behind Lillehaugen and came home in 28:48.5 and was in 94th place.
Henry Dobbs was the only other upperclassmen for the Cobbers to post a top 7 team time. Dobbs finished in a time of 29.43.5. Cody Bekkerus rounded out the top 5 for Concordia. Bekkerus was only :08-seconds behind Dobbs as the two finished in the top 125. Ethan Spittle returned from an early-season leg injury and finished as the team's No.6 runner with a time of 30:05.0.
Concordia will now have another extended break to train and prepare for the upcoming MIAC Meet. The Cobbers will head west and compete in the Jamestown Invite on Friday, Oct. 11 at Hillcrest GC in Jamestown, N,D.