| The Concordian
- March 16, 2001
| 2000-01
Cobber Men's Basketball |
| 2000-01
Cobber Women's Basketball |
Playoff berths highlight men’s and
women’s basketball seasons
Basketball is always a highlight during the winter months, but this season the Cobber basketball teams especially warmed up to the fans. Both the men and women’s basketball teams executed exciting seasons, ending in MIAC tournament appearances. “I think that we did a good job in establishing this as a winning program,”
Jeff Ubben said, refering to the men’s season.
In tournament action, Concordia upset St. Thomas, after losing twice to them during the season. The Cobbers jumped into the game right away gaining an early 6-point lead. The Cobbers pulled away for good in the second half, with concentration
on teamwork. Ubben worked underneath, Joe Snowden provided some key free
throws, and Kermit Cooper added a jam off the backboard.
Concordia faired well early on, trailing by only one point at halftime, but in the second half St. John’s came out blazing and outscored the Cobbers 52-36. “In the second half they came out hot and we were still ice cold,” Ubben said. “It changed the game from defensive to offensive.” The men finished 12-10 in the MIAC and 15-11 overall. The women had an overall-winning season of play, entering the MIAC tournament with a 17-6 MIAC record and a 19-7 record overall. Some initial wins early in the season signaled the possible tournament berth. “Beating Oshkosh at the beginning of the season was a real high for us...they were ranked #1 in the nation.” Katrina Wilberts said. In the first round of the tournament, Concordia held off a late game rally by Gustavus to win 61-58. Although they kept the lead for the majority of the game, it was only in the last seven minutes that the game was won. The Cobbers had a 10-point lead, when Gustavus closed in to make the gap only four points. Concordia fought to stay even and hold the Gusties off for the three-point victory. “We have set high goals for next year.” Wilberts said. But their goals and dedication showed even this season, into the final seconds of their final game. Against the Tommies’ quick perimeter play, the Cobbers pounded the inside game. The highlight for the Cobbers came in the middle of the second half as they made a run to cut the lead to two. But the Tommies were too much for the Cobbers to handle, and Concordia lost 71-57. Sara Spears finished the game with 15 points and 7 rebounds for the Cobbers. Wilberts added 12 points and 8 rebounds of her own. “It was a great season. We accomplished a lot.” Wilberts said. “Everyone
wishes that we could have accomplished more, but it didn’t happen that
way.”
| 2000-01
Cobber Men's Hockey |
There is no article this week. | 2000-01
Cobber Women's Hockey |
There is no article this week.
| 2000-01
Cobber Men's Indoor Track and Field |
| 2000-01
Cobber Women's Indoor Track and Field |
Track and fielders end indoor season
After barely qualifying for the finals of the 800 meter run at the National Indoor Track Meet, Concordia senior Heidi Brenden had one simple goal going into the finals. “I wanted to beat two people so I could finish sixth and be All-American,”
Brenden said.
“It’s hard to believe,” Brenden said. “I finished the race, and all I could think was ‘I think I got second.’” Brenden credits her finish to a talk that her and head men’s track coach Garrick Larson had after the prelims on Friday night. Heidi admitted she was pretty intimidated by the national meet. Larson gave her a pep talk, though, and went over some things she needed to do differently in the finals. “He told me I had to run more aggressively,” she said. “We talked about being positive mentally to give herself a chance to
run fast,” Larson said.
“It makes all the hard work seem worthwhile,” she said. Heidi’s performance at nationals came on the heels of a strong performance at the MIAC championships the week before. Heidi, along with the rest of the seniors on the team, combined to score 84.5 of the teams 120 points, to lead the Cobber women to a second place finish. It was the fourth consecutive year that the women have finished either first or second. “We asked a lot of the seniors, and they came through,” head women’s track coach Marv Roeske said. Here’s just a quick run down of what some of the seniors did: Sara Grineski finished second in the 55 meter hurdles. Heidi Brenden finished third in the 1500 and fourth in the 800. Her sister Heather earned second in the 1000 and fourth in the 1500. Whitney Ostrem got second in the 400 and fifth in the 200. And Angie Strom added a third place finish in the high jump and pentathlon. “We pushed them to the brink, and they wanted to go for it,” Roeske
said.
“We scored in all but two events,” Roeske said. “There’s no one who got that close to covering all events on either the men’s or women’s side.” On the men’s side, the Cobbers were led by seniors Adam Strainer, Chris Goebel, and Steve Edlund. Strainer won the pentathlon for the second straight year, and finished second in the triple jump and sixth in the long jump. Goebel won the 1000 and got second in the 1500. Edlund finished second in the 3000 and third in the 5000. Larson was especially impressed with Goebel and Edlund’s performance. “They ran their brains out,” Larson said. As a team, the Cobber men finished third with 114 points. Goebel, Edlund, and the rest of the middle-to-long distance runners scored points in every event except the 800. “I don’t know if we’ve ever done that,” Larson said. The track team is now off until March 31st, when they open the outdoor season by hosting the Cobber Duals. “It’s time to get back to work,” Larson said. | 2000-01
Cobber Women's Swimming |
Cobbers end season of swimming and
diving
The Concordia women’s swimming and diving team enjoyed a relatively successful season this year. Much of this enjoyment came from strong individual performances by several swimmers as headlines were made and records were broken. But an overall strong team performance is not to be forgotten. Earlier in the season, the team was greeted with triumph when they competed at the conference championships on February 15-17. “At the University of Minnesota [champtionship site] we had an excellent team performance…our swimmers earned 32 total career best times and 25 total season best times”, head coach Julie Lucier said. At this competition, 20 records were broken—15 team and 5 freshmen records— and two swimmers earned All-Conference honors, Shana Letnes and Carrie Bunger. Letnes earned honors for the 100 and 200 breaststroke which were her fourth and fifth MIAC titles, and Bunger excelled in her event-the 1650 freestlye. Letnes has reason to be especially happy about her senior season performance. On March 9th, she became the first All-American swimmer in Concordia’s history as she finished in 11th place in the 100 yard breaststroke at nationals. Even though she failed to qualify for finals the next day, she will always be able to look back on her achievements as an All-American. Not to be forgotten is sophomore Andrea Ross who also had a spectacular season. On December 8th against MSU-Moorhead, Ross won both the 1 Meter and the 3 Meter diving events. Later on in the conference meet, she achieved national qualifying scores and ended up placing 6th and 4th in her events. When they come back next year for their 2001-2002 season, the women
will have to look to new people to fill the shoes of the eight seniors
they are losing to graduation. However with a few young prospects, the
Cobbers should have nothing to fear as they enter their sixth season in
the MIAC.
| 2000-01
Cobber Wrestling |
Schroeder and team wrestle to finish
The 2000-2001 season for the Concordia wrestling team was surely an exciting one, but also one in which the Cobbers worked long and hard. With a rigorous practice schedule, lots of team work and strong individual commitment, they ended up placing an overall third in the conference. Coming as no surprise was the MIAC and national powerhouse Augsburg, which recorded its 15th consecutive first place finish. For the Cobbers, however, ending up in the top three was a goal they had envisioned since the beginning of the season, and did accomplish in the end. “This season was a great one…I am very proud of all the kids and how they worked and wrestled really hard,” commented head coach Doug Perry. Throughout the season, the Cobbers pushed themselves by putting in extra hours in the weight room and intensifying their practices. A few wrestlers fought through injuries but a little adversity did not seem to stop their will to win. Junior wrestler Zack Schroeder knows all about that. As he went through the year with a shoulder injury, he knew he had to stick through it. His determination, in the end, led him to compete at the NCAA Division III National Wrestling Meet held at Wartburg College (Waterloo, IA). Schroeder was the first Cobber wrestler to compete at nationals since 1999. “I went down there expecting a lot for myself, but I ran into some tough competition and although I lost, I believe I wrestled one of my best matches there and found myself where I wanted to be,” stated Schroeder. Considering this was a very young team, the wrestlers and their coaches were quite happy with the season as a whole, and look to come back even stronger next fall for the 2001-2002 season. As a matter of fact, many of the team members are continuing with thier workouts in hopes of even more improvement. “We have to try to go even higher next year, and I am sure the kids realize we can do that…the best is yet to come”, ensured Perry. “Our young team came a long way and accomplished lots. We really pushed each other and will continue to keep doing so,” reinforced Schroeder. We will all have to wait and see what the team brings to the mat next
year. But in the mean time the wrestlers will know just what it is they
are aiming for-Another successful finish in the MIAC...and maybe even at
nationals.
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