Bulldogs crown multiple GPAC champions at conference meet
Senior Hayley Miles finishes her long jump.
Photo credit: Maximus Fritsche
By Kai Olbrich
Sports Editor
Great Plains Athletic Conference champions were crowned for the Concordia University track and field team over the weekend, as senior Adrianna Rodencal, sophomore Jonny Jurchen, sophomore Adysen McCarter and the men’s 4×800 relay team topped the conference charts.
Along with stellar individual performances, the men and women each put up team scores that earned them third place as a team. The men finished with 113 points while the women collected 90.
Rodencal once again continued her dominance as she faced the very best in the GPAC. Her qualifying time of 8.42 was a meet record, while her finals time of 8.44 was nearly half a second ahead of second place.
Each of Rodencal’s times was enough for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics A standard, a mark she has achieved many times already this year. Her personal best of 8.26, which she achieved at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational early this month, leads the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics by 0.32 seconds and puts her as the heavy favorite to win the national title.
Jurchen, the other individual champion, celebrated his second GPAC title in a row in the 3k race walk. Jurchen made it to the finish line in 12:43.38, which blew away his previous meet record of 14:15.64.
Jurchen’s personal best of 12:11.05 is third in the NAIA, and he will look to improve upon his seventh-place finish at nationals last season.
The Bulldogs performed a clean sweep of the racewalk, taking the top three spots. Along with Jurchen, freshman Jack Habegger came in second with a 13:35.86, and junior Luke Hammang placed third with a 14:12.51.
The field events were well represented by McCarter, who took gold in the triple jump. Her mark of 39’ 6” was over a foot further than second place and extended her school record. McCarter is ranked fourth nationally, with athletes close in front of and behind her.
The final event champions for the Bulldogs came from the men’s 4×800 relay team. The relatively young squad consisted of freshman Keith Seik, freshman Trenton Kumm, sophomore Lucas Corwin and junior Justin Sherman.
The team ran a 7:52.41 and finished within a second of runners-up Dordt. The team didn’t achieve the A standard, but will be headed to nationals due to their national seventeenth-place ranking.
GPAC runners-up included freshman Avery Eaves in the men’s 60-meter and 200, freshman Braxton Borer in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, freshman Makenna Starkey in the women’s high jump, junior Jax Jacobson in the men’s pole vault, junior Josiah Edwards in the men’s weight throw and sophomore Harper Boche in the women’s weight throw.
The final indoor track and field event of the season is the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Gainesville, Florida, on March 5-7.
