Concordia Track and Field Triumphs, Pole Vaulters Win Big
Madeline Peters
Sower Staff
Concordia University hosted the Concordia University Classic track and field competition in the Walz Fieldhouse on Friday, Feb. 3.
The team pulled three first place finishes, seven second place finishes, and 12 third place finishes. Twenty-one Concordia athletes also finished with National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics qualifying scores.
Starting off with running events, junior Amy Richert won third in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.28 seconds. Freshman Kayla Kirchner won second in the women’s 200-meter dash with a time of 26.24 seconds.
Sophomores Jenna Esch and Jordan Koepke won second and third respectively in the women’s 600-meter run. Esch finished one second ahead of Koepke with 1:37.39. Koepke finished with a 1:38.46.
Junior Rylee Haecker won first in the women’s 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:59 even. Sophomore Rhaya Kaschinske won third in the same event with a time of 3:07.80. On the men’s side of the event, junior Calvin Rohde won first with a time of 2:29.18.
Freshman Keegan Beisel won second in the women’s 5K with a time of 19:22.88 while sophomore Jack Ellis won third in the men’s 5K with a time of 15:54.35.
Juniors Lauren Dawson and Peyton Gissler won first and second place respectively in the women’s 3K racewalk event. Dawson had a time of 19:06.59, smashing her personal record by two minutes and finishing a minute ahead of Gissler’s 20:08.80.
Moving on to field events, sophomore Hannah Newton won third in the women’s high jump with a score of 1.54-meters. Freshman Hayley Miles won second in the women’s long jump with a score of 5.38-meters, while Richert took another third place podium with a long jump score of 5.34-meters.
Junior Joel Rathe won third in the men’s long jump with a score of 7.03-meters. Freshman Aaron Spivey won third in the men’s triple jump with a score of 13.47-meters.
Junior Josie Puelz won second in the women’s pole vault with a jump of 3.97-meters. Senior Erin Mapson won third with a jump of 3.67-meters. On the men’s side, senior Zach Bennetts won second with a jump of 4.75-meters. Junior Chase Berry won third also with a jump of 4.75-meters. To make matters even more odd, sophomore Zach Zohner won fourth with the same score.
Bennetts and Berry passed the 4.75-meter jump on the first try, while Zohner failed his first attempt. Then on the 4.60-meter jump, Berry had two failed jumps while Bennetts only had one, making Bennetts the second place winner.
Finally, senior Madeleine Robinson won third in the women’s shot put with a throw of 13.56-meters. Junior Chris Wren also won third, but in the men’s weight throw with a throw of 17.62-meters.
Haecker and Rohde are set to compete at the UNL Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln from Feb. 3-4. The rest of the team competes at the Concordia University Invite held in Seward on Feb. 10. This invite will be the final regular event before the Great Plains Athletic Conference indoor track championships.
