| Summary: | SUBMITTED Women's tennis, golf and softball all enjoyed a mid-semester break in the sun. Both the golf and softball teams spent time in Arizona and tennis traveled to Florida for pre-season training and games. Above: The softball team poses for a team photo during mid-semester break training in Tucson, Ariz. SPORTS COREBOARD 8 3 Baseball Against Dubuque and Carroll (Wisc.) @ the Metro-dome on 03/08 and 03/09. COBS DUBQ 6 COBS CARR COBS DIJBQ COBS. CARR LIKE US ON FACEBOOK Women's track and Held 37th place @ NCAA Indoor Championship Meet on 03/09. Hen's Tennis Against St. John's at home on 03/09. COBS GUEST Classifieds FREE 240Z SODA Student Special Get a free 24 oz soda from 2pm - 5pm and 8pm to close with the purchase any slice or pasta when you show your student ID. Good thru the end of the school year 2013. THATZZA PIZZA! 42ND St and 32nd Ave. Order At The Drive-Thru, Ready At The Window THATZZA PIZZA! The New Shape Of Drive-thru. HOUSES FOR RENT I have several houses near Concordia for rent starting May 1st and a couple starting June 1st. Call Mike for a showing before they're gone! 701-799-8369 4 eConcordian theconcordian.org • March 15, 2013 SPORTS Pre-seasons in the sun Cobber sports teams travel to train over mid-semester break BY ALLIE SMEETH • THE CONCORDIAN asmeeth@cord.edu After a stressful mid-semester exam week, members of the golf, tennis and softball team started their pre-season practice. This year, both softball and golf head-ed to Arizona, and tennis headed to Florida. All three teams arrived down South for some relaxation time, team bonding and pre-season practicing. Sophomore Dana Meslow said the golf team spent most of their time at Sedona Golf Resort. "We got up around 8 a.m. and headed to the course," Meslow said. "We would practice for a little, do 18 (holes) and then eat dinner." While the golf team was prac-ticing, the softball team was also playing some pre-season games. "We practiced on Thursday and had two games each day Friday-Monday" Senior Rebecca Conant said. Down in Florida, women's ten-nis was busy too. "We had Sunday and Wednes-day off, but the other days we had morning matches," Senior Olivia DeLeon said. Before heading down South, each of the teams came up with a plan of attack for the week. For the golf team it was to have fun. "We had no set goal, other than to have a good time and do our best," Meslow said. The softball team wanted to have a good time; however, they also wanted to make a statement about this season's Concordia team. "We had the goal of corn-ing out error free and playing a clean game," Conant said. "We also wanted to define how Cob-ber softball was going to be this year." This year was a different story for women's tennis. The team doesn't have an official coach, but with the help of Concordia graduate and former tennis team member Andrea Rognlien, the team has been able to start the season off. Even with some loss-es, DeLeon thinks the girls kept a positive attitude throughout the week. "We've been trying to play though and just have fun," De- Leon said. Throughout the week, all three teams had to deal with things that they weren't used to. Despite some trouble, the teams were able to come out of the week with new outlooks. Meslow felt the golf team was challenged a bit because of the new terrain. "The course wasn't your typi-cal course," Meslow said. "It showed me what I can do and gave me a new mentality" Conant felt that the softball team didn't end the week as they had hoped to. "We didn't play as well as we wanted," Conant said. "However, these pre-season games allow us to (get prepared) for MIAC teams." Since the tennis team doesn't have an official coach as well as fewer players than in previous years, several girls had to step into positions they weren't accus-tomed to. Even so, interim head coach Rognlien felt the women did a good job. "Several girls had to play in positions they aren't use to," Rognlien said. "The girls had to toughen up and play on their own." Even with the setbacks the teams had, they were able to ac-complish their goals and rise to new heights. "I (learned that I) can chal-lenge myself," Meslow said. "I had a new driver and hit 20 times better with it." In spite of the tough week that the softball team had, Conant felt that it had been a great way to get the team together. "The trip was a good oppor-tunity to get to know my team-mates on a different level, other than softball," Conant said. Andrea Rognlien wasn't able to go with the women on the trip, but this wasn't a big issue for them. DeLeon felt the women performed well despite the small-ness of the team. "We got better at (playing) harder courts which make the speed of the ball (change)," De-leon said. "Playing in the heat was hard but helped us prepare for when we play outside." Even though the main goal of the trips these teams took was to practice, they also made sure to have some fun too. Tennis and softball were given free days, and although golf didn't have a set day off, they made sure to take some time after practice to relax at the home they were staying in. "We would go in the hot tub or watch TV at night," Meslow said. The softball team had Thurs-day afternoon off, so the team decided to take a small road trip. "We went to the Desert Muse-um," Conant said. 'After practice each day we had the rest of the day to relax, so we would tan by the pool." The tennis team had Sunday and Wednesday off, so they made sure to take advantage of their free time. "On Sunday we just hung out by the pool," Deleon said. "Wednesday, we went to Disney World, which was a lot of fun." When the week came to a close, all three teams were proud of the work they had accomplished. Each match or game the women played allowed them learn about themselves, their teammates and their competition. One of the things that all three teams enjoyed was what the amazing weather allowed them to do. "Playing outside was great," Conant said. Musher becomes oldest Iditarod champ NOME, Alaska (AP) — A 53-year-old former champion has won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to become the oldest win-ner of Alaska's grueling test of endurance. Mitch Seavey and 10 dogs crossed the Nome finish line to cheering crowds at 10:39 p.m. Alaska time Tuesday. "This is for all of the gentle-men of a certain age," he said on a live stream posted to the Iditar-od website after completing the race in temperatures just above zero. His race time in the 1,000- mile race was nine days, 7 hours and 39 minutes. Seavey's victory came after a dueling sprint against Aliy Zirkle, last year's runner-up, along the frozen, wind-whipped Bering Sea coast. Zirkle crossed the finish line 24 minutes after her rival, who greeted her after a while. "You did a good job," Seavey told Zirkle as a camera crew filmed them. "You're going to win this thing, probably more than once." At a news conference after the race Zirkle gave credit to her ri-val's strategy. "Mitch has this ability to sit on the sidelines and refuel be-cause he knows he needs to re-fuel, while everyone else is zoom-ing by," she said. "It's smart, and that's probably why you won." Immediately after finishing, both mushers rushed to pet their dogs, with Seavey singling out his main leader, 6-year-old Tan-ner, posing for photos with the dog and another leader, Taurus, wearing yellow garlands. Zirkle's dogs wagged their tails as she praised them. "My dog team is my heart," she said. The pair jostled for the lead, with Zirkle never more than a few miles behind, in the final stretch. "I just now stopped looking over my shoulder," Seavey said after winning. Also trailing by a dozen or so miles was four-time champion Jeff King, who was followed by a cluster of contenders, includ-ing Seavey's son, Dallas Seavey. The younger Seavey at age 25 last year became the youngest Iditar-od winner ever, beating Zirkle to the finish line by one hour. Mitch Seavey first won the Idi-tarod in 2004. Before his Tuesday night win, King had been the old-est Iditarod champion, winning his fourth race at age 50 in 2006. The oldies were still stellar performers in a race that ended last year with a top field fea-turing many finishers in their 20s and 30, noted Iditarod race spokeswoman Erin McLarnon. "Last year, we saw a lot of those youngsters in the top 10," McLarnon said. "Some of those 45-plussers are taking back the lead this year. They are showing the young 'tins what they can re-ally do out there on that trail." Zirkle, 43, had hoped to be only the third woman to win the race and the first since Susan Butcher won her fourth Iditarod in 1990. Before this year's race, Zirkle noted the long time that had passed since a woman won. "This is my 13th year, and I've wanted to win every year," she said before the race, which began March 2 with 66 teams at a cer-emonial start in Anchorage. The competitive part of the race began the following day in Willow 50 miles to the north. Since then, the race changed leaders several times. Those at the front of the field included four-time champions Lance Mackey and Martin Buser, who later fell behind En route to Nome, the race turned into an aggressively con-tested run among veterans along an often punishing trail. Conditions on the Yukon Riv-er required dogs to go through deep snow and navigate glare ice. Above-freezing temperatures also led to overflow along the trail, a potentially dangerous sit-uation where water has pushed up through the ice and refrozen, creating a weak top layer of ice that teams and mushers can break through. For reaching Nome first, Seavey wins $50,400 and a new 2013 Dodge Ram pickup truck. The rest of the $600,000 purse will be split among the next 29 mush-ers to cross the finish line under the famed burled arch on Front Street, a block from the sea.
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