Concordia-St. Paul Athletic Hall of Fame
A Mankato, Minnesota native (Minnesota Valley Lutheran), Emily (Shoop) Bredeson is a nine-time NSIC Champion athlete between cross country and indoor/outdoor track & field as both an individual as well as part of relay teams.
She holds the distinction of being Concordia’s only NSIC Champion in the sport of cross country, being named the NSIC Cross Country Athlete of the Year in 2002 when she won the league meet by finishing with a time in Bemidji, Minnesota – a 15 second win as the Golden Bears had the top two finishers in the meet (Janet Brownawell). She backed it up by placing sixth in 2003 to become a two-time All-NSIC cross country runner.
Following the cross country season, she would be just as prolific in the transition to the track & field season where she made an immediate impact as the NSIC Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year with conference championships in the 1,000 meter, 1 mile and 4x800 relay team. She went on to capture conference titles in outdoor season in the 10k and 4x800 meter relay and earned three more conference titles in 2004 as part of the 4x800 meter relays in indoor & outdoor as well as the 1,500 meter run in outdoor where she qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships.
At the national stage, Bredeson became the first Concordia track & field athlete to advance to the finals she placed 10th in the country in the 1,500 meter run.
In addition to being a nine-time league champion between the three sports, Bredeson was named All-NSIC a total of 14 times between individual and relay events. She set 12 records (6 individual, 6 relay) and is still a 10-time CSP school record holder today (5 individual, 5 team). She remains part of the NSIC Indoor 4x800 meter relay record that still stands today.
A transfer from Bethany Lutheran College where she earned her associates degree before attending CSP, Bredeson was named Concordia’s Female Athlete of the Year in her first year on campus in 2002-03 and earned the John Chiapuzio Award in 2004.
A finance major, she was an exception student-athlete and holds the distinction of being Concordia’s first-ever CoSIDA (now named Google Cloud) Academic All-American, being named to the second team in 2004.
Following graduation, she put her finance degree to practice as a financial analyst and payroll manager for Metro Dentalcare/Metropolitan Dental Management (2004-09) before taking a position in payroll and accounting with The Emily Program (2009-12).
She is married to CSP cross country and track & field alum Collin Bredeson and has three children: Annabelle, Lydia and Maxwell. Upon starting a family, Emily has become a full time mother following her career in finance.
