Concordia Classic features 13 teams, sees several Concordia Nebraska successes

Sophomore hurdler Noah Ramirez prepares to start a race.

Photo credit: Maddy Peters

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

Concordia Nebraska’s track and field team hosted their third indoor meet of the season, the Concordia Classic, on Jan. 24-25 in the Walz Fieldhouse.

The meet featured 13 teams outside of Nebraska, including fellow Lutheran Church Missouri Synod school Concordia University Irvine out of California.

The team had seven golds, three silvers and 12 bronzes on the day, as well as three new automatic qualifying results.

Junior Adriana Rodencal took first in both the women’s 60-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash. She had an 8.54 in the hurdles and a 25.61 in the 200. Concordia swept the podium in the 200 with freshman Adysen McCarter in second with a time of 26.58 and senior Emily Loeske in third with a time of 26.64.

Freshman Easton Fries nearly matched his record in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.16 and a first-place win.

Rodencal alongside senior Trinity Tuls, senior Isabelle Salters, and junior Kayla Kirchner finally hit the A standard in the women’s 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:53.71. The time puts the relay group at second on the qualifying lists.

The men also put up a 4×400 relay team of junior Liam Fagan, sophomore Matthew Wing, freshman Perry Chadwick and Fries placing third with a time of 3:23.53. The women’s 4×800 relay team of sophomore Claire Beikmann, junior Hannah Beintema, sophomore Kelsie Heins and sophomore Caitlyn Adams also finished third with a time of 10:32.34.

The final track win came from freshman Jonny Jurchen in the men’s 3000-meter race walk as he placed second with a time of 14:12.41. Jurchen had flirted with the automatic qualifying time the previous week when his 14:32.16 was converted due to track size just ahead of the A standard. His new time, now nearly 20 seconds faster, cemented his ticket to nationals.

Two athletes placed in the women’s pentathlon at the meet. Junior Josi Noble was second with a final score of 3,184 and sophomore Addie Reimer was third with a score of 2,970.

On the field side, junior Mayson Ostermeyer continued to impress crowds with a first-place win in the men’s pole vault with a five-meter jump. Ostermeyer still sits at number one on the qualifying charts.

The jump squad had one podium finish with McCarter coming back to take third in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 11.28-meters.

The final new automatic qualifier came from senior Abigail Gerber who hit a 14.14-meter throw in the women’s seeded shot put. Gerber had already qualified in the women’s weight throw. Freshman Harper Boche placed third in the same event with a throw of 13.47-meters. Sophomore Nathan Baldwin was third in the men’s seeded shot put with a throw of 15.82-meters.

In the seeded weight throw, junior Carson Fehlhafer placed third in the men’s event with a throw of 17.24-meters. Sophomore Brittni Kinne was third in the women’s event with a throw of 16.60-meters.

The team heads to Crete for the Fred Beile Classic on Feb. 1 with events slated to begin at 11 a.m.