Wet Weather Suits Wicklund Well

ST. BONAFACIUS, Minn. (10/15/16)—Freshman Eric Wicklund led Concordia to a second-place finish on a wet and sloppy course at the St. Bonifacius Invite hosted by Crown College.

The second-place team finish is four spots better than the Cobbers' finish at the same meet last year. Concordia wound up with six finishers in the Top 13 at the meet but couldn't overcome Martin Luther who had four of the Top 6 finishers. Concordia had a team total of 40 points while Martin Luther posted a mark of 20.

The course was slowed by the large amount of rainfall in the area.

"Course conditions ran about 1:15-1:30 slower today with feet sinking into the mud 2-3 inches at points in the course that are waterlogged from a wet fall," commented Cobber head coach Garrick Larson.

The conditions didn't slow down the 5-8 Wicklund who led Concordia at a meet for the first time this season.

"Eric's been improving week after week, running the best mileage of his lifetime and the healthiest he's been since middle school, said Larson. "It's so great to see him be able to 'just run' and not think about a hurting body."

Wicklund completed the 8K course in a time of 28:38 and came home in fifth place. His time was 18-seconds behind the Top 3 at the meet.

Matthew Lillehaugen and Brandon Quibell have been in the team's Top 3 at every meet this year and that was the case on Saturday as both harriers posted Top 10 finishes. Lillehaugen broke free of Quibell late in the meet and finished eighth in a time of 29:11. Quibell was 10th crossing the line in 29:32.

Nick Solheim, Brendan Johnson and Will Corbett gave Concordia six athletes in the Top 13 at Crown. Solheim led the second trio with a mark of 30:24 and placed 11th. Johnson nipped Corbett at the line and was 12th at 30:48. Corbett was just 2-seconds behind at 30:50 and placed 13th.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia's next stop will be the MIAC Championship Meet on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. at Como Park GC in St. Paul. Larson commented that the team is excited to prepare for the conference meet.

"I'm very pleased with how hard the team has been training over the past 2 weeks while managing some minor injuries down the stretch," Larson remarked. "We want to be in good health and at full strength at the MIAC Championship in two more weeks."