Four Bulldogs earn all-conference honors at GPAC cross country meet
Section of the Concordia cross country practice course.
Photo: Leo Lopez
By Kai Olbrich
A brisk Saturday morning in Sioux Center, Iowa, on the campus of Dordt University, played host to the Great Plains Athletic Conference cross country meet, in which the Concordia Bulldogs earned four individual all-conference honors and barely missed out on a men’s top-two team finish.
Junior Vaughn Hendrickson was the top Bulldog across the men’s and women’s teams, as he placed fourth in the 8k race with a 24:54.6. Hendrickson won the GPAC meet as a freshman and was all-conference again as a sophomore, so the achievement is nothing new. He also earned All-American honors his freshman season by placing top-40 at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national cross country meet.
Seniors Aidan Limback and Trey Robertson were the other two all-conference runners for the men. Limback placed 11th with a 25:19.4, and Robertson came in 14th with a 25:28.9. Sophomore Keith Siek barely missed out on the top-15 all-conference spots with his 18th-place finish. Seniors Justin Sherman and Ransom Watts, along with sophomore Abram Chance, rounded out the Concordia top-seven.
The women had an all-conference runner of their own with freshman Hope Beck squeezing into 15th in a tightly packed field. Just 3 seconds separated 12th and 16th. It was all freshmen in the top four for Concordia as Amanda Smith, Katie Johnsen and Rachel Prince placed 29th, 31st and 35th respectively. Sophomores Ashley Robertson, Izzi Brumbaugh and Rachel Harris finished up the top seven for Concordia.
As a team, the men ran their most complete race of the season and nearly broke into the top two. Just seven points separated them from second-place Doane, who had 62. No. 17 Dordt won the meet with 45, and there was daylight between Concordia’s 69 points and fourth-place Northwestern’s 92.
The women were barely bumped down to sixth by Morningside 131-134. No. 1 Dordt dominated with 15 points while College of Saint Mary upset No. 25, Doane.
While no national qualifiers have been officially announced, the men put themselves into consideration for an at-large team bid, while Hendrickson put himself in a very commanding position for individual qualification. The national selection show is Nov. 10 at 4 p.m.
