Finally, The 2021 Season Opener
It was a long, 349-day wait for Concordia but the Cobbers were finally able to open the 2021 season with a dual meet at Northern State on Friday.
ABERDEEN, S.D. (1/29/21)---It was a long, 349-day wait for Concordia but the Cobbers were finally able to open the 2021 season with a dual meet at Northern State on Friday.
The last time Concordia swimmers hit the pool for a competitive meet was on Feb. 15 of last year at the MIAC Championship Meet. The Cobbers patiently waited through the delays due to the pandemic and were rewarded with a season-opener against the Division II Wolves.
Concordia posted three individual second-place finishes and had a relay team record a runner-up spot as they fell 157-38. While the Cobbers were finally opening their season, Northern State was capping off their regular season before their conference meet. It was their ninth competition of the year.
Junior Alexandra Rasmussen picked up where she left off at last year's MIAC Meet by pacing Concordia with a pair of second-place finishes. She swam a 26.41 in the 50-yard freestyle and was runner-up in the fourth event of the meet. She also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle where she clocked a 57.46 and beat out three Northern State competitors.
Rasmussen also helped the 200-yard medley relay team come home in second place. The quartet of Camille Gunderson, Rasmussen, Jessica Bray and Anna Backes started the meet by touching the wall in 2:02.01 to beat out the second NDU relay team by a full second.
Backes posted the other individual runner-up finish in the meet. She posted a time of 5:47.37 in the 500-yard freestyle which was only 1.84 seconds behind the winning time. Backes also claimed third place in the 200-yard freestyle to give CC a Top 3 finish in all four freestyle events. She swam a 2:10.22 to edge out sophomore teammate Kaitlin Cramer who clocked a 2:12.49.
Cramer also had the top non-freestyle finish for the Cobbers. She put up a third-place spot in the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 2:25.12.
Freshman Rachel Andersen was fourth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:38.43. She was also fourth in the 1000-yard freestyle at 12:40.24.
Sophomores Bray and Lindsey Biebl came away with fourth-place finishes in the opener. Bray was just outside the Top 3 in both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle. She posted a mark of 27.53 in the shorter of the two sprints and touched home in 1:00.85 in the 100-yard race. Biebl was fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke at 3:15.70.
Concordia will stay on the road for their second meet of the season. The Cobbers will travel to St. Peter to take on Gustavus, Hamline and Augsburg in a quadruple dual meet on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 1 p.m.