Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: November 14, 2008

Complete 2008 NCAA Regional Meet Results

Meet Recap

GRINNELL, Iowa (11/15/08)--Concordia finished off their season by placing 20th at the NCAA Division III Central Region Championship Meet held at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa on Saturday. Despite temperatures in the high 20's and strong northwest winds gusting to 20mph, the Cobbers remained mentally tough to end with the best race of their season. Tom Sederquist cracked the top 50 with a 26:53.6 after finishing 106th in 2007.

Nebraska Wesleyan (1st-130 pts) and St. John's (2nd-139 pts) were the top two teams in the race and secured the automatic team spots for the NCAA Championship Meet. St. Olaf (3rd-148 pts) and Grinnell (4th-167 pts) were awarded at-large bids as they rounded out the top four.

Concordia had a pair of runners unable to compete at the regional meet due to injuries. Michael Dunn, the Cobber No.2 or No.3 runner all season, was injured playing volleyball the week of regionals, while the team's No.7 runner from the MIAC meet David Haugen was unable to run due to a sore calf muscle. "The likelihood of upsetting a few teams at regionals without Dunn was a tough prospect," commented Larson. "But I told my guys we could still turn the tables on St. Mary's," a team that defeated the Cobbers at the MIAC Championship just two weeks ago.

Dunn and Haugen were replaced by David Ohmann and Paul Lillehaugen. "It's a rarity to run guys that deep in your roster at the Regional Championship, but I felt like they were the most ready to go," said Larson. "David Ohmann ran out of his mind and really helped our team. He didn't even know he'd be running until about 10 minutes before the start, when we determined Haugen couldn't go." Ohmann ran a season-best time of 29:25.3 and ended up the team's No.5 runner at the meet. Lillehaugen also ran his season best time of 30:31.0.

"I'm really pleased with how the team ran today. If you compare performances between the MIAC Championship and Regional Championship, Concordia ran proportionally better than all the other teams in the MIAC except St. John's," Larson went on to wax poetically. "Adam Fitzgerald and David Ohmann really had great races and the rest of the team performed above average as well."

In response to questions about next year, Larson added, "our guys are excited about putting in the miles necessary to make a bigger leap up the standings next year. Our top seven are all underclassmen. Only time will tell how much they will improve."

Complete Team Results

1. Nebraska Wesleyan - 130
2. St. John's (Minn ) - 139
3. St. Olaf - 148
4. Grinnell - 167
5. Loras - 182
6. St. Thomas (Minn ) - 195
7. Luther - 202
8. Bethel (Minn ) - 202
9. Hamline - 211
10. Carleton - 249
11. Coe - 266
12. Augsburg - 299
13. Simpson (Iowa) - 315
14. Gustavus Adolphus - 338
15. Macalester - 371
16. Wartburg - 390
17. Cornell College - 409
18. Central College - 475
19. Martin Luther - 540
20. Concordia - 555
21. St. Mary's (Minn ) - 600
22. St. Scholastica - 707
23. Minnesota-Morris - 714
24. Dubuque - 757
25. Crown - 760
26. Buena Vista - 803

Top 20 Individual Results

1. David McKay - 25:29.2 - Luther
2. Daniel Greeno - 25:35.9 - Bethel (Minn )
3. Brandon Gleason - 25:38.4 - Hamline
4. Brian Chenoweth - 25:39.5 - Wartburg
5. Carl Gladitsch - 25:43.8 - Bethel (Minn )
6. Brent Haglund - 25:44.4 - Augsburg
7. Andrew Laflin - 25:45.5 - Nebraska Wesleyan
8. Dobuol Ruon - 25:48.1 - St. Olaf
9. Brad O'Neil - 25:48.2 - Coe
10. Wade Ekstrom - 25:51.1 - Macalester
11. Eric Osterhaus - 25:51.6 - Simpson (Iowa)
12. Logan Watley - 25:54.6 - Nebraska Wesleyan
13. Ian Bauer - 25:55.7 - Hamline
14. Dan Foley - 25:56.5 - Gustavus Adolphus
15. Martin Mudry - 25:58.1 - Macalester
16. Zach Hunter - 26:08.8 - St. John's (Minn )
17. John Fry - 26:09.2 - Loras
18. Cullen O'Neill - 26:10.2 - St. Olaf
19. Mikael Brucker - 26:12.0 - Carleton
20. Henry Reich - 26:12.0 - Grinnell

Complete Concordia Results

20. Concordia-Moorhead
46. Tom Sederquist, So - 26:53.6
122. Nelson Godbolt, So - 28:52.1
124. Adam Fitzgerald, Fr - 28:59.4
126. Mike Reponen, Jr - 29:02.4
137. David Ohmann, Fr - 29:25.3
152. Paul Lillehaugen, So - 30:31.0
155. Jake Stunek, Fr - 30:43.3

Total Time = 2:23:12.6 Total Places = 555