Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: May 7, 2008

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MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/07/08)-- The Concordia field athletes will lead the way for the Cobbers at the 2008 MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship Meet. Concordia has nine different athletes with over 11 different top 10 marks in the conference this season. On the other side of the coin, the Cobbers have only two track athletes with top ten times in the MIAC.

Leading the way for the Cobbers in 2008 will be junior Paul Westmark (Appleton, Wis.). Westmark earned the moniker of the conference’s best all-around athlete this spring when he won the MIAC decathlon last week. He had the top score in the decathlon heading into the conference meet and owns top ten marks in three different events. He has the eighth best mark in the triple jump (43-06.50) and the sixth fastest times in both the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdle events. Last year he finished fourth in the decathlon at the conference meet and he is coming off a fourth-place finish in the heptathlon at the MIAC Indoor Track and Field Meet.

Concordia has a trio of field events where they have multiple top ten athletes. The javelin, discus and shot put have all been kind to CC this spring and will look to help out with multiple points at the conference meet. The Cobbers have three of the top five marks in the javelin and have a fourth athlete with the ninth best distance.

Tom Flynn (Jr., Shelby, Mont.) leads the quartet of javelin stars for Concordia. His distance of 185-01 at the Bison Open is the second best in the MIAC this year and is less than three feet from provisionally qualifying for the national meet. The other top five javelin throwers include Nick Birchem (Jr., Lisbon, N.D.) and Jeff Bakke (So., Grand Forks, N.D./Red River HS). Paul Shol (Jr., Fergus Falls, Minn.) is the fourth athlete to have a top ten distance in the vent this year. Shol is also ranked second in the decathlon this year.

In the discus, Giles Henry (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Tech HS) and Birchem own top six marks. Henry is fourth with a distance of 146-05 and Birchem is sixth at 141-09. The shot put features three CC athletes in the top ten. Billy Oehlers (Jr., North Branch, Minn.) is looking to cap a breakout track and field season. He has the third best toss in the conference at 50-05.25 and is coming off a third-place finish in the shot put at the conference indoor meet. Senior Joey Twigg (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) posted a distance of 46-02 at the St. John’s Invite and currently sits in eight position, while Birchem is ranked ninth in the event with a mark of 45-10.

The other CC field athlete that has a chance to score top points at the MIAC meet is senior Dusten Olejnicak (Brainerd, Minn.) who has the eight best distance in the long jump but has yet to find a rhythm after placing sixth at the conference indoor meet.

Westmark is the top track athlete for the Cobbers having recorded top six times in both of the hurdle events. After Westmark, senior Josh Smith (Staples, Minn./Staples-Motley HS) will be looking to cap his career in style in the 400 meters. He is currently ranked 11th in the event with a time of 50.98 but has the pedigree to win the race at the conference meet. He finished fourth in the indoor 400 this season and was in the top seven at last year’s outdoor meet.

The Cobber relay teams have posted improved times this season and have challenged several school records. The 4x100-meter relay team of Jason Sather (So., Plymouth, Minn./Armstrong HS), Perry Patterson (So., Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine HS), Flynn and Xavier Carroll (So., El Cajon, Calif./Grossmont HS) ran a 43.37 at the Drake Relays. That time is only 0.06 of a second behind the top CC time from last year and is currently the fifth fastest in the MIAC this season.

The depth of several field events and the intrigue of all-around athlete Paul Westmark will be the top story lines for Concordia at the conference meet. But the Cobber team might steal the show if they can together their best performance of the season which will lead to their best finish at the MIAC meet in several years.