Quibell Leads Cobbers' Finishing Kick

MOORHEAD, Minn. (9/11/15)-- Cobber junior Brandon Quibell used a wicked finishing kick to post his first-ever top 20 finish and help Concordia finish fourth at the MSU Moorhead Twilight Meet.

Quibell held back in the early part of the race to test out his strength after returning from an injury. He was as far back as 31st place before cutting loose over the final 3000 meters to move into the top 20 finishers, Quibell finished in 18th place with a time of 20:42 as the team's No.1 runner for the second straight meet. 

The race went out at a blistering pace that eventually took its toll on other teams' runners. The Cobbers ran a more conservative race, not getting sucked in to the reckless pace and held back during the first of the three 2k laps at the Moorhead Soccer Complex. 

"I was a little worried after the first lap," commented head coach Garrick Larson.  "There was a big gap between the top 20 and our pack of runners back around 30th. You don't want to get out crazy fast, but you hate to be out in no-man's land." 

Midway through the race, Quibell and Erik Larson started moving up while the No.3-5 Cobber harriers held their pace.   

"I wasn't sure what expect from Brandon," continued Coach Larson.  "The plan was to use the race as a threshold run since he'd had some pain mid-week. Erik worked so hard over the summer and is racing like a different man this fall.  I'm excited to see how he continues to develop.  He's definitely an impact runner for our team." 

Larson went on to finish 22nd with a time of 20:55.

Race Heitkamp, Luke Lillehaugen and Ryan Turner rounded out the top 5 for Concordia. All three runners finished under the 22-minute mark. Heitkamp led the trio with a mark of 21:10.3 which was good for 28th place.    

Garrick Larson summed up the performance by stating, "you always hope to finish higher, but our guys ran a smart race tonight.  You could really see the improvement from the Jamestown meet where the Jimmies beat us by almost a minute man-for-man.  Tonight we cut that gap down to 9 seconds per guy.  We are so young and inexperienced that I only feel like we can improve and move up from here," concluded Larson. 

WHAT'S NEXT: The Cobbers have a two week training period as they prepare to compete at the Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota on Saturday, Sept. 26.