Lillehaugen's Big Improvement Leads CC

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/09/16)--- Senior Matthew Lillehaugen narrowly missed his second straight Top 20 finish of the year as he led Concordia at the second annual MSU Moorhead Dragon Twilight Meet.

Lillehaugen covered the 6K course in 20:01.0 and placed 23rd in the eight-team invitational. He was the first CC finisher at the meet and CC placed all five of their top runners in the Top 50 of the meet. Concordia went on to place fifth as a team with a final team score of 159. The placed above Minot State and Jamestown.

Lillehaugen finished fourth at last week's season-opening home meet. That race around the outdoor athletic complex at Concordia was a 5K and Lillehaugen finished in a time of 17:09.5. Lillehaugen's time on Friday was a huge improvement from a year ago at the same meet. In 2015 at the MSUM Twilight Lillehaugen ran a 21:57 and finished in 26th place.

A pair of newcomers to the Cobbers wound up as the team's No.2 and 3 runners for the night. Freshman Eric Wicklund completed the course in a time of 20:31.3 and junior Nick Solheim crossed the line in 20:56.1. It was the first meet of the year for both athletes as they sat out the opener due to injuries. Wicklund wound up in 30th place in his first collegiate meet and Solheim, who played for the Cobber men's soccer team last fall, was five spots back in 35th place.

Will Corbett and Brendan Johnson completed the Top 5 for the Cobbers and they posted times within 1.2 seconds of each other. Corbett came home in 21:49.1 and was 49th while Johnson was given a finishing time of 21:50.3 and was 50th. Corbett's time represents a 9.9 second improvement from last year's meet.             

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will finally head out of town to compete in a meet. The Cobbers will participate in the St. Olaf Invite in Northfield on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 10 a.m.