Esko’s Sami Mattson and Chisholm’s Jonathan Breitbarth are among the nine inductees comprising the Concordia-St. Paul Athletic Hall of Fame 2021 class, announced Friday.
After graduating from Esko in 2007 and winning News Tribune All-Area Softball Player of the Year honors, Mattson quickly established herself as one of the best all-around players in Concordia softball history.
Forming a potent duo with fellow Golden Bears’ Hall of Famer Anna (Bjorlin) Graves of Hermantown, Mattson helped the Golden Bears go 127-83 (.605) over four seasons as the everyday shortstop while earning a trip to the NCAA Division II tournament in 2010. She had a career year as a senior in 2011, setting a program record with 19 home runs.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mattson is also a skilled golfer. She resides in Esko where she serves as an assistant varsity softball coach but is looking at relocating to Chicago.
Breitbarth finished as the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference men’s cross country individual runner-up in 1996, leading the then-Comets to the team title, and his multiple events in track and field helped the Comets win the UMAC indoor track & field championship in 1997.
After graduating from Concordia with a social studies degree in 1998, later that same year, he was named Concordia’s head cross country and assistant track and field coach, a position he still holds today. He helped the program transition into the NCAA Division II ranks as a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. He resides in Bloomington, Minnesota.
The 16th Concordia-St. Paul Athletic Hall of Fame class will be inducted Saturday, Oct. 9, during homecoming weekend in St. Paul.
