Multiple Lifetime Bests And Another Jaeger Record Cap MIAC Meet

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (02/19/22)---First-year swimmer Hailey Jaeger finished off the MIAC Championship Meet the same way she started year-end event – by breaking a school record.

Jaeger backed up her school record in the 50-yard freestyle on Thursday by smashing the 11-year-old mark in the 100-yard freestyle.

Jaeger's second school-record swim of the meet was just one of many highlights on Day 4 at the conference championship meet.

Jaeger also qualified for the "B" final in the 100-yard fee and scored valuable team points to help Concordia finish in eighth place in the final team standings. It is the highest team finish for CC since 2019 when they also placed eighth.

Like her record in the 50-yard freestyle, Jaeger stepped into school history in the prelims of the event. She clocked a 54.64 in the prelim race which broke the school mark of 55.22 held by legendary Cobber swimmer Katie Coleman that was set in 2011.

The 54.64 got Jaeger a spot in the "B" final where she posted a time of 54.66 and finished in 14th place. Jaeger had a trio of Top 15 finishes at the meet which helped CC score team points in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard freestyle.

The 100-yard freestyle also produced a trio of season-best times and three swimmers posting marks under the 1-minute mark. Jess Bray clocked a 57.77, and Brienna Timm swam a 59.59 to break the 1-minute mark for the first time. She was followed by Camille Gunderson at 59.88 and Audrey Zeleny with a 1:00.28. Both of those times are season bests.    

The biggest time drop of the meet was turned in by junior Rachel Andersen who took 52 seconds off her season-best time in the 1650-yard freestyle by swimming a 20:56.81.

Kaitlin Cramer nearly got into the "B' final in the 200-yard backstroke. She dropped 7-seconds off her lifetime best and touched the wall in 2:16.25. That time was only .28 of a second from getting a spot in the night time finals races.      

Concordia had a pair of swimmers finish in the Top 25 in the 200-yard breaststroke- and both athletes recorded lifetime-best marks. Lindsey Biebl knocked of 13-seconds from her previous best time by swimming a 3:01.81. She was narrowly clipped by teammate Chantelle Schmidt, who touched the wall in a PR time of 2:59.07.

First-year diver Kiernan Darling finished off her first collegiate championship meet by posting a score of 317.40 points and finished in 16th place in the 1-meter competition.

In the final event of the meet, the Cobber quartet of Cramer, Bray, Timm and Jaeger swam a 3:46.91 in the 400-yard freestyle relay which is only 2.72 seconds off of the school record. Not only did the CC team post a fat time, they were also able to track down the team from Hamline who had a full body length lead after the opening leg. Bray was able to narrow the lead, then Timm cut the lead in half before giving way to Jaeger who caught the Piper swimmer after the first 50 yards and then pulled away down the stretch.