A Field Day At The MIAC Meet
ST. PAUL, Minn. (5/13/17)---Concordia head coach Marv Roeske might want to petition the league office to see if they will change the name of the outdoor conference meet to the MIAC Field and Track Meet.
The Cobbers won five of the eight field events at the MIAC Outdoor Meet and finished in third place. The third-place finish marks the sixth straight Top 3 finish for Concordia at the outdoor conference meet and CC has now recorded an amazing 28 straight Top 5 finishes at the outdoor meet.
Concordia finished with 108.25 points which is the most since the 2015 meet when they finished second. It is also almost 20 points better than their score from last year when they also placed third.
The Concordia seniors led by example at the MIAC meet. Mikayla Forness and Mandy Mercil won field events on Friday and then Emma Peterson pulled off her second straight double win in the high jump and triple jump. Peterson earned MIAC Field Athlete honors at the conference indoor meet in February by winning both the high jump and triple jump. She duplicated that feat at the outdoor meet on Saturday by claiming titles in both events.
Peterson becomes the first Concordia athlete in school history to win the same two events at both the indoor and outdoor MIAC Championship Meets.
Peterson started her last conference meet by winning the high jump with a mark of 5-06.50. That height was over three inches better than the next competitor. She then moved over to the triple jump pit where she decided to set another conference record. Peterson saved her best for last as she recorded a winning distance of 39-10.50 on her very final attempt of the final round. Her distance bettered the old conference record of 38-09.00 set by former Cobber Hilary Thompson in 2014.
The other field event victory came from an unlikely suspect. Junior Bailey Hovland entered the hammer throw having not qualified for the finals in the event at the conference meet in her first two seasons at CC. She then unleashed a school record throw of 166-04 in her second attempt in finals to win the event by a full eight feet. Hovland's previous season best was 157-02 and she obliterated that mark on her way to winning the first outdoor All-Conference honor of her career.
Hovland bettered the school record of 164-07 set by Mariah Mougey in 2003.
In addition to the five wins in field events the Cobbers also posted 13 Top 8 finishes which scored team points.
Peterson led a group of three athletes who all scored points in the high jump. Freshman Tierza Engen posted a season-best height of 5-01.75 and was third while sophomore Jenna Stilwell cleared the bar at 5-00.25 and tied for fourth.
Concordia also had multiple point winners in the hammer throw and discus. Joining Hovland on the podium for the hammer was Mercil who capped her MIAC career by finishing in seventh place with a season-best mark of 144-03.
Hovland then used the momentum from her school record mark in the hammer throw to finish third in the discus. She posted a distance of 123-05 on her very final attempt to climb from the No.9 spot all the way to All-Conference honors.
Sophomore Tressa Reuter made it two consecutive Top 3 finishes in the discus as she bettered Hovland by 2 feet-3 inches and placed second. That was one spot higher than her finish at last year's meet. Her finishing distance was 125-08.
The Cobbers had three athletes come away with Top 5 finishes in track events. Forness and Isabelle Andriessen went 4-5 in the 400-meter hurdles. Both athletes bettered their times in the prelims to post season best times. Forness crossed the line in 1:05.11 and Andriessen was .61 of a second behind at 1:05.72. Forness' time is the eighth fastest in school history and Andriessen is No.12 on the school's all-time list.
Hannah Lundstrom was the final member of the Cobbers to score points. She qualified for the finals of the 200 meters with the third fastest time and then faded down the stretch in the finals and placed fifth with a time of 25.67.
MEET PICTURES: Click on the link below to see a great group of pictures from the MIAC Meet which are available for purchase and come courtesy of former Cobber Nathan Lodermeier.
Link to Nathan Lodermeier's meet pictures
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS:
1. St Thomas - 146.75
2. St. Benedict – 130
3. Concordia - 108.25
4. Macalester - 90.25
5. St. Olaf – 84
6. Hamline - 81.25
7. Bethel – 72
8. Carleton – 55
9. St. Catherine – 29
10. Augsburg – 25
11. Gustavus - 23.50
12. Saint Mary's – 13
EMMA PETERSON TRIPLE JUMP RECORD:
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will now have a three-day competition period next week to try and better their marks for qualifying for the NCAA Meet. The Cobbers will travel to Naperville, Ill. to compete in the North Central Heptathlon on May 16-17. CC will send another group to Wis.-La Crosse to participate in the Wis.-La Crosse NCAA Qualifier on May 18.
COBBER NOTABLES:
MIAC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 12-13, 2017 --- Hamline University, St. Paul, MN
TEAM: 3rd place, 108.25 points
MIAC CHAMPIONS:
Triple Jump – Emma Peterson – 39-10.5 (12.15m)
High Jump – Emma Peterson – 5-6.5 (1.69m)
Shot Put – Mandy Mercil - 46-2.5 (14.08m)
Hammer Throw – Bailey Hovland – 166-4 (50.69m)
Javelin Throw – Mikayla Forness – 144-7 (44.06m)
Heptathlon – Mikayla Forness – 4721 points
MIAC ALL-CONFERENCE (places 1-3 + 1st place relays only):
1st - Triple Jump – Emma Peterson – 39-10.5 (12.15m)
1st - High Jump – Emma Peterson – 5-6.5 (1.69m)
1st - Shot Put – Mandy Mercil - 46-2.5 (14.08m)
1st - Hammer Throw – Bailey Hovland – 166-4 (50.69m)
1st - Javelin Throw – Mikayla Forness – 144-7 (44.06m)
1st - Heptathlon – Mikayla Forness – 4721 points
2nd – Discus Throw – Tresa Reuter – 125-9 (38.33m)
3rd – High Jump – Tierza Engen – 5-1.75 (1.57m)
3rd – Discus Throw – Bailey Hovland – 123-5 (37.63m)
MIAC ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTION (places 4-6 & relay places 2-6):
4th tie – High Jump – Jenna Stilwell – 5-0.25 (1.53m)
4th – 400 Hurdles – Mikayla Forness – 65.11
5th – 400 Hurdles – Isabel Andriessen – 65.72
5th – 200 Meters – Hannah Lundstrom – 25.67
6th – Triple Jump – Shelby Gelinske – 35-7.25 (10.85m)
OTHER SCORERS (places 7-8)
7th – Hammer Throw – Mandy Mercil – 144-3 (43.98m)
7th – Heptathlon – Jenna Stilwell – 3923 points
7th – 4x800 Relay – Maria West, Isabel Andriessen, Sara Whiteman, Mikayla Forness – 9:36.97
8th – 4x400 Relay – Shelby Gelinske, Isabel Andriessen, Maria West, Mikayla Forness – 4:07.11
8th tie– Pole Vault – Erin Hillerud – 9-9 (2.97m)
8th – Heptathlon – Marissa Anderson – 3810 points
MIAC RECORD:
Triple Jump – Emma Peterson – 39-10.5 (12.15m)
SCHOOL RECORD:
Hammer Throw – Bailey Hovland – 166-4 (50.69m)
COBBER ALL-TIME LIST PERFORMERS:
Hammer Throw – Bailey Hovland – 166-4 (50.69m) – ALL-TIME #1
Triple Jump – Emma Peterson – 39-10.5 (12.15m) – ALL-TIME #2
Heptathlon – Mikayla Forness – 4721 points – ALL-TIME #3
Shot Put – Mandy Mercil - 46-2.5 (14.08m) – ALL-TIME #5
400 Hurdles – Mikayla Forness – 65.11 – ALL-TIME #8
100 Hurdles (heptathlon) – Mikayla Forness – 15.45 – ALL-TIME #9
100 Meters – Mollie Francis – 12.74 – ALL-TIME #10 tie
4x800 Relay – Maria West, Isabel Andriessen, Sara Whiteman, Mikayla Forness – 9:36.97 – ALL-TIME #11
400 Hurdles – Isabel Andriessen – 65.72 – ALL-TIME #12
100 Meters – Lauren Santl – 12.89 – ALL-TIME #17
High Jump – Tierza Engen – 5-1.75 (1.57m) – ALL-TIME #18
PERSONAL RECORDS:
100- Mollie Francis, Lauren Santl;
200- Mikayla Forness (heptathlon), Marissa Andersen (heptathlon), Miriah Forness (heptathlon);
800- Liz Vought, Miriah Forness (heptathlon);
100 hurdles- Marissa Andersen, McKenzie Lautt, Mikayla Forness (heptathlon), Marissa Andersen (heptathlon), Miriah Forness (heptathlon);
400 hurdles- Mikayla Forness, Isabel Andriessen;
long jump- Miriah Forness (heptathlon);
triple jump- Emma Peterson, Shelby Gelinske;
high jump- Tierza Engen, Marissa Andersen, Marissa Andersen (heptathlon), Miriah Forness (heptathlon);
shot put- Mandy Mercil, Emily Albers, Mikayla Forness (heptathlon), Marissa Andersen (heptathlon);
hammer- Bailey Hovland, Mandy Mercil;
javelin- Marissa Andersen (heptathlon);
heptathlon- Mikayla Forness, Jenna Stilwell, Marissa Andersen.