Track and Field Gains 16 New Automatic National Qualifiers at Friday’s Meet

Madeline Peters
Sower Staff

The Concordia Track and Field team competed in the Concordia University Invite Friday in the Walz Fieldhouse.

The team achieved 10 first place finishes, 11 second place finishes, and five third place finishes. There were also 16 new automatic qualifying scores for the national competition in the meet.

Freshman Adrianna Rodencal had a successful meet. She won first in both the women’s 200-meter dash with a 25.77 and in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.76. Rodencal’s time in the hurdles is the second school record in a row. She set the previous record of 8.80 at the Frank Sevigne meet in Lincoln on Feb. 3.

Senior Rachel Battershell won first in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 57.81 and sophomore Trinity Tuls won third in the same event with a time of 58.88. Sophomores Jenna Esch and Jordan Koepke won first and second respectively in the women’s 600-meter run. Esch finished with a time of 1:37.09 and Koepke with a time of 1:37.70.

Sophomore Rhaya Kaschinske won second in the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:23.34. Meanwhile, junior Kylahn Freiberg won first in the women’s 1000-meter run.

Freshman Hannah Beintema won first in the women’s 1-mile with a time of 5:26.80. Junior Camden Sesna won first on the men’s side of the event with a time of 4:17.76.

Junior Julie McIntyre won second in the women’s 3K with a time of 11:22.30, with fellow junior Lauren Dawson winning second in the women’s 3K race walk with a time of 17:50.34.

Finally for the running events, the Concordia men’s 4×400-meter relay team won second with a final time of 3:23.84. The team was made up of senior Mark Cooke, sophomore Colby Sugden, freshman Liam Fagan, and junior Colton Meyer.

The field portion of the team also performed well in Friday’s meet. Sophomore Hannah Newton won first in the women’s high jump with a score of 1.67 meters. Freshman Kimberly Schropfer won second in the same event with a jump of 1.54 meters.

Junior Josie Puelz won second in the women’s pole vault with a jump of 3.92 meters. Senior teammate Erin Mapson won third with a jump of 3.77 meters. Two Zachs had success in the men’s pole vault for Concordia. Senior Zach Bennetts won second with a jump of 4.80 meters and sophomore Zach Zohner won third with a jump of 4.70 meters.

Junior Kellie Rhodes won first in the women’s long jump with a score of 5.35 meters. Freshman Hayley Miles won second with a jump of 5.31 meters. Junior Joel Rathe won second on the men’s side of the event with a jump of 7.08 meters. Freshman Myles Sadd won third in the men’s long jump with a score of 6.81 meters.

Freshmen Josi Noble and Aaron Spivey made the podium in the women’s and men’s triple jump respectively. Noble won second with a jump of 10.89 meters and Spivey won first with a jump of 13.77 meters.

Only one thrower made the podium in this meet. Junior Chris Wren won third in the men’s weight throw with a score of 18.36 meters.

This meet ends the regular indoor season for the track and field team. Their next event is the Great Plains Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 17-18 in the Walz Fieldhouse. After that is the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Indoor Track and Field Championships set to be held in Brookings, S.D. on March 2-4.