A Series Of Successful Season-Best Swims
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (12/05/15)—Concordia had one of their best multi-team events in recent history as they posted several season-best times at the Jean Freeman Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota
The Cobbers used the meet to post conference qualifying times and get more experience at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center which also hosts the MIAC Championship Meet at the end of February.
The two-day invite turned into a season-best fiesta as numerous Cobber athletes had their best outings of the season against swimmers from 15 schools, including Division I programs from University of Minnesota and South Dakota State University. The meet was broken down into the morning preliminaries, and the evening finals session.
Junior Sarah Nelson turned in the top finish for the Cobbers at the meet. She swam a 2:26.22 in prelims in the 200-yard butterfly, qualified for the finals as an alternate and placed 13th.
Fellow junior Libby Hardwick recorded a pair of top 25 finishes at the meet. Hardwick was 20th in the 100-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:02.58 and touched the wall in 2:17.04 in the 200-yard backstroke to post a 21st-place finish. Her time in the 100-yard back was a season best by over two seconds while her mark in the 200-yard back eclipsed her previous season best by 2.26 seconds. Her time in the 100-yard backstroke is just 1.45 seconds off her school record mark she set last season at the conference meet in the same pool. Hardwick also holds the school record in the 200-yard backstroke which she set with a time of 2:14.91 in last year's MIAC Meet as well.
The two other top 20 finishes at the meet were turned in by freshman Ciara White and senior Annie Herkenhoff. White came home with a time of 1:10.55 and placed 20th in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her time is a season best by 1.07 seconds. White was also 31st in the 200-yard breaststroke with a season-best mark of 2:37.28.
Herkenhoff continues to lead the Concordia distance crew. She dropped over 35 seconds off her best time in the 1650-yard freestyle and also put up a top time in the 500-yard freestyle. Herkenhoff posted 18th-place finish when she swam an 18:43.90 in the 1650-yard freestyle. Her time is 37 seconds faster than her previous season best which she swam against MSU Moorhead on Nov. 6. Her time of 18:43.90 is the fastest by a CC swimmer in the event since the 2011 season and would have given her a top 15 time at last year's MIAC Championship Meet.
Herkenhoff started the two-day meet by recording a time of 5:38.15 in the 500-yard freestyle. That was a season-best mark by 1.39 seconds.
Lily Johnson and Jordyn Olson took Herkenhoff's cue and also posted season-best times in the 1650-yard freestyle. Johnson swam a 20:37.31 which was 18.19 seconds faster than her time vs. MSUM. Olson touched the wall in 21:14.82 which is two seconds faster than her previous season best mark.
Freshman Alaina Dehnke just missed out on a top 20 finish in the 200-yard backstroke. She was a mere .15 of a second behind Hardwick as she touched the wall in 2:17.19 and finished in 22nd place.
WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will have over a month break for the Christmas holiday. The next competition for the Cobbers will be at the annual MSU Moorhead Invitational on Jan. 15 and 16. CC will also compete at the Hamline Triangular and against St. Catherine in a dual meet in the month of January.