Bulldog track and field sets records at the Concordia Classic

Senior Adrianna Rodencal hurdles to victory in the women’s 60-meter hurdles preliminaries (photo from previous season).

Photo credit: Maddy Peters

By Kai Olbrich

Sports Editor

The Concordia track and field team saw meet records conquered, first-place finishes reached and national qualification achieved by multiple athletes on Friday and Saturday at the Concordia Classic.

The top performer of the day was the ever-present, senior Adrianna Rodencal, whose 60-meter hurdles time of 8.43 was enough for a meet record, fieldhouse record and the national A standard. Rodencal was over half a second faster than the next-best time on the day and sits far at the top of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. She is the only athlete to achieve the A standard in the event so far, and her personal best of 8.41 is .19 seconds ahead of second place nationally.

Junior Hayden Kluthe staked his claim to the top of the men’s 60-meter hurdles rankings as he topped the previous school record of 8.13 with an 8.04. Kluthe’s effort was enough for first place in the event and the national B standard. He was also just .02 seconds off of the A standard.

Sophomore Jonny Jurchen was back on the track in the 3k race-walk. Jurchen’s time of 12:44.17 was just shy of defeating the NAIA’s No. 1 racewalker, Owen Nolte from Benedictine. Despite the second-place finish, Jurchen still achieved the national A standard.

Also in the race-walk was freshman Jack Habegger, whose time of 13:33.52 was enough to automatically qualify for nationals and place third at the meet.

The freshmen were strutting their stuff on Saturday as two of them took first place in their respective events. Avery Eaves grabbed the 60-meter dash title, winning the prelim with a 6.90 and the final with a 6.94. Keith Siek was the other newcomer to come out on top. Siek placed first in the 1k, running a very consistent 2:33.96.

Junior Josiah Edwards was the runner-up in the seeded men’s weight throw and hit the national B standard as he achieved a mark of 17.87 meters. In the unseeded weight throw, sophomore Thomas Thomas won with a 16.48-meter throw.

The Bulldogs also had some solid relay performances. The men’s distance medley, composed of juniors Trey Robertson and Justin Sherman, and sophomores Lucas Corwin and Vaughn Hendrickson, came in second with a 10.21:55.

The men’s 4×400-meter relay had a similar result. The team of Eaves, Kluthe, sophomore Perry Chadwick and senior Liam Fagan places second with a 3:23.12.

Rounding out the relay runners-up was the women’s 4×400-meter relay. The squad of sophomore Adysen McCarter, Rodencal, junior Tayden Kirchner and senior Kayla Kirchner ran a 3:57.85.

The Bulldogs will split up next week as they take on the UNL Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln and the Fred Beile Invite at Doane University.