A Stylish Cobber Alumni Open
Concordia kicked off the 2026 portion of its schedule in style as they posted eight first-place finishes at the 86th annual Cobber Alumni Open. CC got four event wins from individual track athletes, captured crowns in both the 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relays and came away with a pair of field victories.
MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/24/26)---Concordia kicked off the 2026 portion of its schedule in style as they posted eight first-place finishes at the 86th annual Cobber Alumni Open (formerly the Cobber Open).
The Cobbers got four event wins from individual track athletes, captured crowns in both the 4x200-meter and 4x400-meter relays and came away with a pair of field victories against athletes from DII MSU Moorhead and Bemidji State as well as NAIA affiliated school Valley City State.
Junior Tyler Goss posted his first win of the year by running a controlled race in the mile and closed hard to finish in 4:27.47. His time was identical to his brother Brady's mark at last season's Cobber Open.
The mile was one of the top events for CC as they placed five athletes inside the Top 11.
Ryan Richardson gave Concordia the win in the 400 meters with a time of 53.55, while teammates Rylan Slack (55.91) and Isaiah Damico (56.54) also scored Top 6 finishes.
The Cobber sprinters showed off their early-season form by posting a 1-2-3 finish in the 60-meter hurdles. Senior Logan Clark took the title in 8.74 and was followed by multi-eventer Joey Molstre at 9.02 and Hayden Hauf with a mark of 9.04.
Nolan Morical came up with a huge performance in the 200 meters. He bested a strong field with a time of 23.09. Concordia also placed five athletes in the Top 10 of the event.
The two Cobber relays featured eight different athletes producing a pair of wins. The 4x200 relay crew of Moricak, Hauf, Hunter Caillier and Jake Merseth posted winning time of 1:36.58, while the quartet of Jonas Hagemeister, Brady Andrews, Joseph Venables and Blake Andrews crossed the line in 3:45.16 to claim the victory in the 4x400.
Sophomores Eli Hegland and Tyler Evans recorded the wins in the field events for CC.
Hegland cleared the bar at 6-02.25 in the high jump and Evans soared to a height of 14-05.50 in the pole vault. Evan's height is third best in the MIAC this year.
Molstre gave the Cobbers a 1-2 finish in the pole vault as he cleared 12-08.00.
Evans also finished second in the long jump with a mark of 19-10.75.
Cooper Folkestad started 2026 with a solid second-place finish in the shot put. His best distance was 55-00.75 which was just shy of his mark at the season-opening NDSU Alumni Classic in December.
Blake Houska posted strong showings in both the shot put and weight throw. He was third in the shot put at 47-09.00 and fourth in the weight throw at 50-02.50.
Concordia will head north to Grand Forks next weekend to compete in the mathematically-challenging UND Open on Jan. 31.