Sprinters & Throwers Key Cobbers In Season Opener
Concordia opened its 2024 season by hosting the 83rd annual Cobber Open. Concordia had four student-athletes post individual event wins at the meet that featured competitors from NCAA Division I, II and NAIA schools.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/20/24)---Concordia opened its 2024 season by hosting the 83rd annual Cobber Open. Concordia had four student-athletes post individual event wins at the meet that featured competitors from NCAA Division I, II and NAIA schools.
In addition to the four individual event victories, the Cobbers also posted wins in the 4x400-meter and 4x200-meter relay races.
A pair of veteran Cobber sprinters stepped into the spotlight in the season opener. Dawson Schaffer earned the victory in the always competitive 60-meter dash, while Logan Clark crossed the line first in the 60-meter hurdles.
Schaffer clocked a personal-best time of 7.14 in the 60-meter dash to earn the victory by a mere .01 of a second. The win was the first for Schaffer in a collegiate 60-meter dash and his time is in the Top 7 of the MIAC this season.
Clark came through with a finishing time of 8.72 in the 60-meter hurdles to claim the event win by .35 of a second. His time is currently the sixth fastest in the conference this year.
Freshman Brady Goss came through with the only other track win for Concordia. He raced to a time of 4:31.88 in the mile and won by 3.11 seconds. Goss, who was one of the top runners for the Cobber cross country team in the fall, is in the Top 15 of the MIAC this year in the mile.
Goss also finished fifth in the 1000 meters later in the day when he clocked a 2:43.20.
Senior Cooper Folkestad continued his early-season success in the shot put. He claimed the win in the event that had 19 competitors. Folkestad posted a distance of 53-04.25 on his third attempt and won the event by a full 7 feet.
The Cobbers dominated the shot put event as they posted the dreaded 1-2-3 finish. Folkestad was first, while freshman Blake Houska and junior Dominik Hillstrom both came through with personal-vest marks. Houska was second with a distance of 46-04.00 and Hillstrom was third at 44-00.75.
All three athletes are in the Top 10 of the MIAC this year. Folkestad has the top throw with a mark of 53-06.25, which he posted at the NDSU Dakota Classic in December. That distance is also 11th in DIII this year.
The hard-luck performance of the meet went to junior Ricky Ramirez, who lost the title in the weight throw on the very last attempt of the meet. Ramirez dropped a personal-best distance of 46-08.25 on his sixth attempt of the event to take over the lead by almost 4 feet. He then had the final competitor come through with a PR on the very last throw and overtake Ramirez by 1.25 inches.
Ramirez' second-place distance is No.7 on the conference list this year.
Schaffer was a part of the Cobber 4x200-meter relay team that clocked a 1:33.30 to win the event by 1.53 seconds. Mason Dahl, Trevor Tiongson and Jordan Petron ran the first three legs of the winning relay, whose time is No.2 in the MIAC this year.
The quartet of Tiongson, Gavin Groshelle, Joey Molstre and Wade Rhonemus gave CC the sweep in the relay races, as they crossed the line with a time of 3:36.11 and won the race by 9.76 seconds.
UP NEXT: Concordia will have its first away meet of the season when they travel to Grand Forks to compete in the UND Open on Saturday, Jan. 27 at noon.