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Cobber assistant coach Martin Peper (L) and Emma Peterson both earned USTFCCCA top regional honors. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Lodermeier)
Cobber assistant coach Martin Peper (L) and Emma Peterson both earned USTFCCCA top regional honors. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Lodermeier)

Peterson & Peper Earn Regional Awards

MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/24/17)--- Concordia senior Emma Peterson and assistant coach Martin Peper earned United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) top regional honors it was announced at the NCAA National Outdoor Meet.

Peterson took home USTFCCCA Region Field Athlete of the Year honors while Peper was named the Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

The award for Peterson is the latest in a long line of honors in her senior season. She was recently named the MIAC Most Outstanding Field Athlete for the MIAC Outdoor Meet and she also earned Performance-of-the-Meet honors for her record-breaking mark in winning the conference triple jump.

Peterson won both the high jump and the triple jump at the MIAC Outdoor Meet. It marked the second straight conference championship meet she captured the crowns in both events.

Peterson has also qualified for the NCAA National Outdoor Meet in both the high jump and triple jump. Her best height in the high jump came at the Drake Relays where she broke her own school record with a mark of 5-07.75. Peterson's conference record distance of 39-10.50 in the triple jump is the seventh farthest in the nation this year.

Peterson will be looking to add a third All-American award at this year's national outdoor meet. She has captured All-American honors in the high jump at this year's NCAA Indoor Meet and also at last year's NCAA Outdoor Meet.

Peper is in his second season as jump coach with the Cobbers. He has helped Peterson with her record-setting ways in the high jump but really showed his advanced teaching techniques in the triple jump. Peterson is a relative novice when it comes to the triple jump as she has competed in less than 15 meets in the triple jump in her career.

Peterson recently credited her success in the high jump and triple jump to Peper in a recent Fargo Forum article. Head coach Marv Roeske called Peper a master technician.

Peper's coaching has helped the Cobbers earn a spot in the USTFCCCA national rankings as well as a Top 10 Central Region ranking.  

Concordia also had five athletes honored by the USTFCCCA for earning All-Region honors by having a top 5 mark for any individual in the region. Those earning the All-Region honor for the Cobbers included Peterson, Mikayla Forness, Mandy Mercil, Bailey Hovland and Vanessa Johnson.  

Peterson, Forness and Mercil will all compete at the NCAA National Outdoor Meet in Geneva, Ohio starting on Thursday, May 25 and continuing until Saturday, May 26.