Sports
DeVries, Foss: Best of Class
A pair of Concordia male athletes set program
history with their excellence in the classroom.
Football defensive back Levi DeVries ’09, Bejou,
Minn., and soccer forward Justin Foss ’09 (above),
Fargo, N.D., earned ESPN The Magazine Academic
All-American honors. DeVries made Cobber football
history by becoming the first to earn Academic All-
American First Team honors, while Foss became the
first Cobber soccer player to be named as an Academic
All-American.
For DeVries, the award capped an honor-filled
season. He was named to the MIAC All-Conference
Honorable Mention Team and was a semifinalist
for the Draddy Trophy, one of the top honors in
college football recognizing athletic, academic and
community success.
DeVries, a physics and mathematics double major,
carries a 3.97 GPA. On the field, he was a four-year
starter and one of the four co-captains this season.
He is a three-time MIAC All-Academic honoree and
has been recognized on the dean’s list every semester
at Concordia. He was also inducted into the Sigma
Pi Sigma honor society for physics and received the
Randy Kurt Bartholomaus Scholarship.
Foss has a 3.58 GPA and is majoring in psychology.
He had a career year on the field and finished the
season with 15 goals and two assists for 32 points. His
goal total is the second highest in school history and
his point total is fourth best in program history. Foss
led the MIAC in goals in conference games this season
(nine). He scored at least two goals in four of the last
six games of the season and had at least one score in
eight of the final 10 games.
Going for the Green
Concordia women’s golfer Afton Pender ’09, Cohasset, Minn., tied for second place at the MIAC Championship meet. She shot a three-day total of 243 and tied with two other golfers. Her runner-up finish earned her All-Conference honors for the second time in her career. Her second-place finish is the highest finish for a Cobber golfer since Katie Taylor ’04 also tied for second in 2003.
Uncharted Territory
Tim Mosser’s volleyball team had another record-setting season and finished the year by advancing farther in the NCAA Tournament than any other team in program history. The Cobbers swept through the NCAA regional quarterfinals and semifinals before losing in the regional final. Concordia finished the year with a 22-6 overall record, marking the sixth time in the past seven seasons the team has won at least 20 matches during the year. The trip to the national playoffs was the sixth straight, which tied a MIAC record for most consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. On top of all that, Mosser’s squad was ranked in the top 25 of the nation for the entire season and has now spent 53 consecutive weeks in the top 25 of DIII volleyball.
26 Earn All-Conference Accolades
Once again, Concordia fall athletes came away with many postseason awards.
Cobber athletes combined to earn 26 all-conference honors. Several players went
on to earn All-Region awards. The top two award recipients were football defensive
lineman Travis Aufderheide ‘10, New Ulm, Minn., and volleyball standout Abby
Scheel ‘09, Fergus Falls, Minn.
Aufderheide earned the Mike Stam Award, which goes to the top lineman in the
MIAC, and was named to the D3football.com All-Region Second Team. He became
the fifth Concordia player to win the top lineman award in the past nine years.
Concordia is the only school in the MIAC to have five players honored with the
award in the past eight seasons.
Scheel capped her career by earning AVCA All-American honors. She became
the eighth Cobber player in the past five seasons to earn an All-American award.
Scheel led the team in blocks and was third in kills in both overall and conference
matches. She had 161 kills and 82 blocks in the team’s 28 matches. She finished her
career with 457 kills and 332 blocks. Her block total places her sixth on the school’s
all-time career list.
Top-Tier Finish
The Cobber football team went through a rollercoaster season in 2008. Concordia ended the year with a 6-4 overall record and a 5-3 mark in the MIAC. They finished second in the league standings for the third time in the past five years. During the year, the team came up with a big win at nationally ranked St. John’s, winner of the conference championship. The Cobbers led the MIAC in rushing offense and defense and finished in the top 21 in the nation in both statistical categories.
