UM-Morris Dual Meet Recap

Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: January 27

UM-Morris Dual Meet Results - Now Online!

MOORHEAD, Minn.-- Concordia honored the three seniors during the final home meet of the 2005-06 season and the entire team made sure the trio would leave the Memorial Auditorium pool as winners.

The Cobbers used the strength of eight event victories to cruise past UM-Morris 143-81 and earn their second straight dual meet win. Concordia finishes their dual meet portion of the season with a 3-5 record.

Shannon Brown, Annie Cullen and Allison Lowe were honored before the start of the swimming slate of the meet. Their hard work in the past four years was mirrored in the 11 events in the meet by the Cobber team. Concordia started with five straight wins and then had several outstanding individual performances to put a cap on the 05-06 home season.

Cullen started the meet by posting another national-qualifying score in the 1-meter diving competition. It is the third time this year she has reached the provisional mark and is now pretty much of a lock to earn a spot at her second consecutive NCAA Division III national Meet. The victory is Cullen's 16th individual diving competition victory of the season.

Brown used her fellow senior's cue by helping the Concordia 200-yard medley relay team capture the first swimming event of the night. The Cobber team of Dani Ree, Brown, Katie Lee and Allison Bolgrean swam a 2:04.35 to win the race by over 11 seconds.

Perhaps the best individual event performance followed the relay. Concordia recorded a 1-2-3 finish in the grueling 1650-yard freestyle. Shaina Fossum eclipsed the 20-minute mark to win the event. She was followed by Latoya Gruys and Jessica Tollberg. Fossum's time is a season-best and places her in the top 20 in the conference.

Lee then made it three straight wins for Concordia. She swam a 2:07.47 in the 200-yard freestyle to gain the first of her two individual event victories. The winning time is all a season-best.

After the Cougars' Kristine Ertl won the 50-yard freestyle, Concordia rattled off three straight victories to pull away in the team competition. Catie Eickhoff won the 200-yard individual medley to claim the first of her two titles and then Lee and Brown notched their second wins of the meet. Lee captured the 100-yard butterfly and then Brown swam away with the 100-yard freestyle. Lee's time of 1:06.20 is her best effort of the year as she continues to improve and fight for position heading towards the conference meet.

Eickhoff, not to be outdone by Brown or Lee, won her second event of the night when she swam a 6:19.46 in the 500-yard freestyle to win by a full seven seconds.

Fittingly, senior Brown won the final even of the meet for the Cobbers. She posted a 1:16.87 in the 100-yard breaststroke to win by five seconds.

Concordia will finish off the regular season of the 2005-06 season when they compete at the UND Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 28 starting at 9:00am. The team will then enter a two-week training period before setting their sights on the MIAC Championship Meet on Feb. 16-18.