May 3, 2025
Cooper's World Takes Over The Jake
Concordia’s first home meet since 2019 turned into another episode of Mr. Cooper’s World. A week after breaking the 29-year-old school record in the discus and two weeks removed from busting up the “unbreakable” Cobber record in the shot put, Cooper Folkestad went into rarefied air in the shot put.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/03/25)---Concordia's first home meet since 2019 turned into another episode of Mr. Cooper's World.
A week after breaking the 29-year-old school record in the discus and two weeks removed from busting up the "unbreakable" Cobber record in the shot put, Cooper Folkestad went into rarefied air in the shot put.
Folkestad was one of 13 individual event winners at the Cobber Open as he crossed over the 61-foot mark in the shot put. He came up with a head-shaking distance of 61-01.25 on his second attempt of the prelims and won the event by over 10 feet.
How good is that distance? Well, it is the No.1 mark in Division III this year. It would be No.2 in all of Division II and in the Top 50 of Division I. Folkestad is having a season that dreams are made of, and we're along for the ride.
Oh, and if that wasn't enough, Folkestad also pulled off a double win by claiming the title in the discus. He only recorded a distance of 164-02 in the event, which is No.1 in the MIAC but is 8 feet shy of his school record of 172-05, which he posted at the Drake Relays.
Normally, freshman Tommy Schreiner would have been the top headline in the meet, but unfortunately, he happens to be on the same team as Folkestad.
Like Folkestad, Schreiner won two events. He claimed the title in the 200 meters with a PR time of 21.87, but his real news-worthy performance came in the long jump. Schreiner busted out a distance of 23-10.25 on his second attempt in the finals. That mark assures Schreiner of a place at the NCAA National Outdoor Meet, as it moves him into the Top 11 in DIII.
Eli Hayes, Gabe Thompson and Tyler Evans had the other field event wins for CC. Hayes came through with a distance of 178-09 to win the javelin, Thompson's season-best mark of 43-00.50 won the triple jump and Evans cleared the bar at a personal-best height of 14-04.00 to claim the title in the pole vault. Thompson's and Evan's marks push them into the Top 8 in the MIAC and Hayes is currently No.2 in the javelin.
Golden Cobbs Comeback Athlete of the Year Nolan Morical raced to a time of 11.11 to win the 100-meter dash. He had a season-best time of 11.00 in the prelims.
Brayden Carlson, Ryan Richardson, Gavin Groshelle, Tyler Goss and Brody Black recorded the other track event wins.
Carlson ran a season-best 50.12 in the 400 meters, Richardson crossed the line in 56.33 in the 400-meter hurdles, Groshelle posted a 1:59.81 in the 800 meters, Goss went 4:08.07 in the 1500 meters and Black clocked an 18:46.84 in the 5000 meters.
Next up for the Cooper Folkestad Record-Breaking Tour is the MIAC Championship Meet. The Cobbers will compete at the conference outdoor meet on May 9-10 at Macalester.
