Concordia Sports - The First 100 Years by Finn Grinaker

"Concordia Men's Sports - The First One Hundred Years"
by Vernon Finn Grinaker
| Return to Index | Chapter 1 | 1903-1921 | 20's | 30's | 40's | 50's | 60' | 70's | 80's | 90's |
Chapter 9-- The 80's

| 1980-1981 | 1981-1982 | 1982-1983 | 1983-1984 | 1984-1985 | 1985-1986 | 1986-1987 | 1987-1988 | 1988-1989 | 1989-1990 |

Triggered by the attention focused on low academic achievement of many athletes in large universities, The Forum newspaper in Fargo surveyed local colleges for the graduation statistics of mail athletes eligible for financial aid. Results of the survey, published in the July 7, 1986 issue of The Forum, showed Concordia at the top, with a 97.7 percent graduation rate between 1981 - 1985. Of 180 senior male athletes, 176 graduated during that time, and one of those who didn’t is in school and expects to finish. (North Dakota State University had 147 of 173 seniors graduated for 84.9 percent and Moorhead State University had 86 of 136 graduating, for a graduation rate of 63.2 percent.)

Concordia’s high standing in graduation rates does not surprise the athletic staff. “We’ve known it all along,”says head football coach Jim Christopherson. “At Concordia, athletics are important, but our priority is education. If we got below the 90th percentile, I would be very disturbed. We would have to re-evaluate what we’re here for.”

1985 Football

The 1985 Cobber football team had an excellent season, tying with St. Olaf for second place in the MIAC. Jim Christopherson coached the team to a 7 - 2 record in the conference and a 7 - 3 record overall. Named to the MIAC all-conference first team were Russell Winkels, James Southwick, and Harry Teaster. Steven Ringdahl and Mark Spangrud were named to the second team all-conference. Steven Ringdahl was also the team captain.

Football scores were:
Concordia 7 Moorhead State 28
Concordia 23 Hamline 21
Concordia 3 Macalester 0
Concordia 24 Gustavus 7
Concordia 17 Bethel 0
Concordia 10 St. John’s 14
Concordia 24 St. Thomas 22
Concordia 2 St. Olaf 12
Concordia 14 Carleton 6
Concordia 38 Augsburg 0

Final standings in the conference were:
St. John’s 6 - 1
Concordia 7 - 2
St. Thomas 7 - 2
Macalester 5 - 4
Hamline 4 - 5
Carleton 4 - 5
St. Olaf 4 - 5
Gustavus 3 - 6
Bethel 2 - 6 - 1
Augsburg 0 - 8 - 1

On the roster were David Eril, Dan Paladichuk, Wade Hanson, Mickey Shumaker, Stuart Stangeland, Conrad Kirmis, David Stover, Randy Cramer, Mike Twedt, Dietrich Locke, Doug Toivonen, Jon Hegre, Tim Petersen, Mark Wright, Michael Leach, Brooks Andersen, Darren Kessler, Gregg Kruse, Paul Rihiluoma, Wayne Hansmann, Craig Emerson, Kirk Nelson, Dale McCullough, Brian Durkop, Steve Ringdahl, Mark Federation, Tom Peterson, Jon Florence, Lee Carlson, Russ Winkels, Steve Grove, Chris Rumsey, Kevin Hiedeman, Jay Schultz, Joe Savageau, Brett Garland, Greg Shifflett, Sam Foster, Keith Okeson, Tom Ohlgren, Terry Horan, Steve Troen, Paul Haugo, Scott Knutson, Peter Naugle, Allen Larson, Keith Schleeter, Nathan Nelson, Joel Anderson, Steve Emerson, Troy Teigen, Todd Johnson, Shannon Farley, Eric Wanner, Nathan Schmitt, Craig Seaberg, Kevin Knutsen, Mark Jondahl, Tim Pillar, Steve Schmitz, Jerry Hughes, Jon Fisher, Steve Connelly, Chuck Miller, Jim Southwick, Mike Schriner, Steve Thompson, Mark Kratzke, Robert McCarthy, Wayne Kyllo, Harry Teaster, Mike Malmberg, Shawn Radtke, Craig Sommer, Brett Larson, Rodney Thompson, Nate Johnson, Charlie Otterness, Jay Perry, Jon Freeman, Ron Baglien, David Crum, Dan Hauer, Erik Olson, Andrew Raedeke, Dan Mortenson, Tim Kruse, Brian Bruns, David Nelson, Todd Hauge, Murray Smith Mark Spangrud, and Tim Tarbell.

1985 Cross Country

1985 was a building year for the men’s cross country team where the team showed improvement during the season and had some personal bests. New head coach Tom Dahlen was optimistic about his team’s future. The cross country roster included Peter Langer, Dan Lamken, Are Hestvedt, Mark Olson, Chris Farniok, Mark Lingle, Roger Dorsey, Tom Ness, and Greg DeFor.

1985-86 Golf

In golf, the 1985 men’s golf team tied with St. Olaf for second place in the MIAC conference meet. Lance Butner was the only all-conference player for the Cobbers. During the season the men participated in the Erv Kaiser Invitational in Fargo, the Bemidji Invitational, and the Carleton Invitational. The team’s best performance was a fifth out of 11 teams at the St. John’s Invitational.

Concordia golfers were Kevin Toreson, Paul Stageberg, Chris burros, Tom Fuglestad, Tom Price, and Lance Butner.

1985-86 Basketball

The 1985 - 1986 men’s basketball team had a year of ups and downs finishing the season with a conference record of 9 - 11 and 12 - 13 overall. Eight-year coach John Eidsness let the senior dominated starting line-up to several big victories to offset some frustrating defeats. The team had a home court record of 10 - 3 but lost close games away to finish 2 - 10 on the road. Darrel Pederson was named to the all-conference team.

Those on the team were Tim Wahlin, Mark Thimjon, Scott Haakenson, Bob Nelson, Dan Douglas, Darrel Pederson, Don Heisler, Craig Wolhowe, Marv Eberling, Grant Hummel, Rodger Taylor, Mike Schwartz, and Dennis Krull.

Scores for the season were:
Concordia 60 NDSU   73
Concordia 90 MSU   67
Concordia 84 Bethel   93
Concordia 75 Gustavus 81
Concordia 46 St. Thomas 50
Concordia 71 MSU   60
Concordia 61 Mt. Marty 64
Concordia 66 Carleton 61
Concordia 60 St. John’s 56
Concordia 61 Hamline 60
Concordia 64 Macalester l66
Concordia 49 Augsburg 64
Concordia 62 St. Olaf 71
Concordia 78 Bethel   77
Concordia 68 Gustavus 65
Concordia 54 St. Thomas 69
Concordia 50 St. Mary’s 58
Concordia 55 Carleton 54
Concordia 55 St. John’s 82
Concordia 65 Hamline 68
Concordia 79 Macalester 58
Concordia 61 Augsburg 67
Concordia 80 St. Olaf 75

Final conference standings in basketball were:
St. John’s 16 - 4
Bethel 15 - 5
St. Thomas 15 - 5
Augsburg 14 - 6
Hamline 11 - 9
Gustavus 10 - 10
Concordia 9 - 11
St. Mary’s 8 - 12
Carleton 4 - 16
Macalester 2 - 18

1985-86 Hockey

Head coach Al Rice received his 200th career win as the 1985 - 1986 Cobber hockey team finished its season with a conference record of 6 - 10 for a sixth place finish. Their overall record was 8 - 18. Named to the all-conference team were Colin Kerslake and Mark Rice with honorable mention honors going to Andrew Mack, John Breyer, Todd Thompson, Brian Johnson, and Craig Tietz.

On the hockey roster were John Stensgard, Andy Mack, Brad Bergstrom, Mark Rice, Ron Clark, Todd Thompson, Larry Goos, Colin Kerslake, Kirk Arnold, John Breyer, Brad Lacomy, Joe Snippes, Ross Sanders, Bruce Elson, Steve Dorwart. Brian Johnston, Guy Distad, Craig Tietz, Ross Richards, John Bowkas, Keith Nygaard, and Garnet Wahlund.

Results for the season were:
Concordia 3 NDSU   8
Concordia 2 St. Thomas 9
Concordia 2 Gustavus 7
Concordia 7 Bethel   4
Concordia 4 St. John’s 7
Concordia 7 St. John’s 1
Concordia 8 NDSU   3
Concordia 8 Hamline 6
Concordia 3 Hamline 6
Concordia 3 Bemidji State 11
Concordia 0 St. Cloud State 3
Concordia 4 NDSU   6
Concordia 3 St. Olaf 6
Concordia 4 St. Olaf 6
Concordia 3 Gustavus 4
Concordia 4 Gustavus 11
Concordia 6 St. Mary’s 5
Concordia 5 St. Mary’s 1
Concordia 6 St. Cloud State 15
Concordia 3 St. Thomas 8
Concordia 4 St. Thomas 9
Concordia 6 Bethel   4
Concordia 4 Bethel   10
Concordia 4 Bemidji State 11
Concordia 5 Augsburg 4
Concordia 3 Augsburg 6

Standings in the MIAC at the end of the season were:
St. Thomas 15 - 1
Bethel 11 - 5
St. John’s 8 - 7 - 1
Gustavus 8 - 8
Hamline 7 - 8 - 1
Augsburg 7 - 9
Concordia 6 - 10
St. Mary’s 6 - 10
St. Olaf 3 - 13

1985-86 Wrestling

Three seniors, Paul Morlock, Paul Donner, and Tom Raedeke dominated the upper weights for the 1985 - 1986 Cobber wrestling team. They led the team to a fourth-place finish in the MIAC, only 6.75 points out of first place, and an overall dual meet record of 8 - 8. This was the first season for head coach Ron Nellermoe who took over the reins from Finn Grinaker.

The Cobbers placed third out of ten teams in the North Country Tournament and third in the All-Lutheran Tournament. They placed fifth out of 18 teams at the St. Cloud State Tournament.
For the second year in a row a Cobber wrestler received the MIAC’s Outstanding Wrestler Award — Paul Morlock. Paul had an undefeated season and advanced to the national tournament along with Brett Larson and Tom Raedeke. All three wrestlers won their first match but were defeated in the quarterfinals. Tom also received academic all-American honors.

Concordia wrestlers were Tim Christensen, Paul Donner, Steve Emerson, Dave Erickson, Peter Felde, Darren Glynn, Paul Grafstron, Barron Johnson, Joe Klingfus, Mark Kratze, Dan Lanertz, Matt Larson, Mark Lingle, Mike Mills, Neal Mobraten, Paul Morlock, Andy Raedeke, Tom Raedeke, Todd Risa, Jerry Rutgers, Kurt Scheer, and Dean Thureen.

1986 Baseball

The 1986 baseball team, under Coach Don “Bucky” Burgau, finished second in the conference with a 14 - 4 record and an overall record of 18 - 13. The team experienced a slow start losing six out of seven games in an early-season tournament, then rallied to win 15 of their last 16 games. Four players, Eric Jacobson, Greg Toivonen, Doug Kovash, and Jon Riewer were named to the all-conference team. Kovash was voted the Most Valuable Player by his teammates at the end of the season.

Playing on the Cobber team were Randy Cramer, Jay Harter, Joel Smith, Steve Smith, Mark Rice, Kent Amundson, Steve Rohloff, Todd Larson, Jon Sannes, Scott Oeffling, David Pryzamus, Colin Kerslake, Kevin Hiedeman, Al Hanson, Dan Leer, Scott Lundy, Todd Johnson, Jay Schultz, Doug Toivonen, Mike Leach, Chad Campbell, Wade Hanson, John Robinson, Richard Spong, Darin Orr, Keith Nygaard, Dean Atchison, and Richard Schumaker.

Baseball scores were:
Concordia 1 Central State 5
Concordia 6 Central State 7
Concordia 1 Oklahoma Baptist 9
Concordia 2 Oklahoma Baptist 4
Concordia 0 East Central 8
Concordia 7 East Central 9
Concordia 4 Oklahoma Christian 0
Concordia 0 Oklahoma Christian 1
Concordia 11 Minot State 0
Concordia 12 Valley City State 2
Concordia 7 Valley City State 4
Concordia 6 St. Thomas 7
Concordia 4 St. Thomas 10
Concordia 4 UND   7
Concordia 8 UND   11
Concordia 8 St. Mary’s 2
Concordia 2 St. Mary’s 7
Concordia 7 Augsburg 6
Concordia 15 Augsburg 5
Concordia 11 Carleton 6
Concordia 16 Carleton 3
Concordia 2 Hamline 1
Concordia 10 Hamline 5
Concordia 4 Gustavus 3
Concordia 1 Gustavus 2
Concordia 8 Macalester 4
Concordia 18 Macalester 3
Concordia 15 St. Olaf 2
Concordia 6 St. Olaf 5
Concordia 6 Bethel   4
Concordia 2 Bethel   0

Standings in the MIAC at the end of the season were:
St. Thomas 18 - 2
Concordia 14 - 4
Augsburg 15 - 5
St. Mary’s 13 - 7
St. Olaf 12 - 8
St. John’s 8 - 8
Hamline 8 - 10
Bethel 7 - 13
Carleton 2 - 18
Macalester 2 - 18

1986 Tennis

In 1986 the Cobber men’s tennis team, coached by Bob Nick, ended up in fourth place in the conference with a 5 - 3 record and 12 - 4 overall. Dan Vandersteen was named to the MIAC all-conference team after an impressive showing in the conference meet where he advance to the final round before being defeated by a top-seeded player.

The team included Tom Johnsrud, Cory Lell, Dave Vandersteen, Dan Vandersteen, Tom Ness, Todd Webb, Leif Johnson, and Mike Leffel.
Results were:
Concordia 3 UND   6
Concordia 5 Mankato 4
Concordia 6 NDSU   3
Concordia 9 MSU   0
Concordia 6 MSU   3
Concordia 1 Carleton 8
Concordia 9 UM - Morris 0
Concordia 6 Northern State 3
Concordia 2 Gustavus 7
Concordia 9 St. Mary’s 0
Concordia 5 Macalester 4
Concordia 2 St. Thomas 7
Concordia 9 NDSU   0
Concordia 8 Bethel   1
Concordia 6 St. John’s 3
Concordia 7 St. Olaf 2

1986 Track

The 1986 men’s track team was hampered by injuries but still managed to finish seventh in the conference with ten men named all-conference. Doug Perry was team coach. All-conference
trackmen were Daniel Hauer, Michael Bouressa, Doug Haugen, Stephen Schmitz, Jonathan Faust, Jay Jorgenson, Mark Lingle, James Lundstrom, Brian Bruns, Gregory DeFor, Dennis Kashmark, and Mark Olson.

Others on the squad were Ari Hestvedt, Scott Swedin, David Burd, Nick Newton, Dan Lamkin, Garnet Wahlund, David Dietal, Ross Anderson, Hendrick Host, Chris Rumsey, Jerry Hughes, Tom Bowman, Mark Johnson, Tony Urdahl, Jeff Pralle, Steve Pyles, John Samuelson, Nathan Lund, Paul Beck, Jay Ness, Brian Borstad, Make Brever, Ron Baglien, Keith Okeson, Darwin Kjer, and Russ Jackson.

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These pages are maintained by Jerry Pyle - pyle@cord.edu and Finn Grinaker - cgrinaker@juno.com. These pages are copyrighted © and may not be published or reproduced without the express permission of Finn Grinaker.