Indoor track and field season kicks off with Bulldog Early Bird Invite

Junior Mayson Ostermeyer prepares to start his vault.

Photo credit: Maddy Peters

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

Concordia track and field started off their indoor season with the Bulldog Early Bird Invite in Seward on Dec. 13 and 14.

The team had six first place wins, 11 second place finishes, and 12 third place finishes. Four athletes were able to punch their tickets to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national track and field meet before the end of the fall semester.

The meet started off Friday afternoon with the multi events with two Bulldogs coming out on the podium. Junior Josi Noble was second with a final score of 3,085 and sophomore Zoey Walker took third with a score of 2,936.

Junior Adriana Rodencal continued her quest to shave off as much time off the women’s 60-meter hurdle event as possible by hitting an 8.53 time in the finals and took two milliseconds off her record. She won first in the event and accomplished an automatic qualifying time to put her in third on the national leaderboard. Rodencal was second in the women’s 200-meter dash as well with a time of 25.64.

Freshman Easton Fries broke the record in the men’s 60-meter hurdle on his first go with a 8.13 in the finals. Though he won second in the event, he broke a 30-year-old 8.14 record set by Chuck Tasler in 1994 and matched by Jose Beaton in 2004. Fries won first in the men’s 400-meter dash as well with a time of 51.33. Just behind Fries in the 400 was fellow freshman Perry Chadwick with a time of 51.67.

Senior Emily Loeske was able to clinch a third-place finish in the women’s 60-meter dash with a time of 7.89.

Senior Trinity Tuls snatched a first-place win in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 59.03. Junior Kayla Kirchner was just behind her but finished third with a time of 59.24.

Freshman Lucas Corwin won third in the men’s 600-meter run with a time of 1:26.05.

Starting off the distance events with the women’s 1,000-meter run was junior Hannah Beintema who won the event with a commanding time of 3:15.02. Second place went to sophomore Claire Beikmann with a time of 3:19.36. Sophomore Trinity Houchin won third in the women’s one-mile run as well with a time of 6:03.42.

Freshman Annaka Schlachter led the rest of the distance team in the women’s 3,000-meter run with a second-place time of 11:34.64. Senior Ellie Jander was third with a time of 11:37.45.

Freshman Jonny Jurchen started off his career with a bang in the men’s 3,000-meter race walk with a B standard time of 14:33.78, just 11 seconds off the A standard. Jurchen is listed at number six on the national list and is likely to go to the championships due to the relative competitiveness of the event and his solid time.

The 4×400 relay teams set solid times at the Early Bird Invite with the men’s team winning first with a time of 3:23.79 and the women placing second with a time of 3:57.74. The men’s team was made up of junior Liam Fagan, sophomore Matthew Wing, Chadwick and Fries as the anchor. The women’s team was made up of Rodencal, Tuls, senior Isabelle Salters and Kirchner and were able to hit a B standard.

The men’s distance medley relay team made up of sophomore Trey Robertson, Fagan, junior Trevor Kuncl and freshman Vaughn Hendrickson competed uncontested and ended with a time of 10:27.16.

Moving on to the field events, junior Mayson Ostermeyer was the star of the show with a massive personal record and automatic qualifying jump in the pole vault. Ostermeyer finished the day with a jump of 16’ 2.75” and currently sits at first on the national leaderboard. Sophomore Jax Jacobson was second in the event with a jump of 14’ 3.25” tying with Doane’s Drew Garrison. Junior Kayla Svoboda was third in the women’s pole vault with a jump of 10’ 11.75”.

The last auto bid for the invite came from senior Abi Wohlgemuth who threw a 57’ 2” shot in the women’s weight throw for a second-place finish. She sits at fourth on the national leaderboard. Senior Connor Asche placed third in the men’s weight throw with a 55’ 11.25” toss.

Freshman Harper Boche started her collegiate career off strong with a second-place finish in the women’s shot put throwing a 43’ 7.25”. Senior Abigail Gerber took third in the same event with a 43’ 5.25”. In the men’s event, sophomore Nathan Baldwin took third with a throw of 50’ 4.25”.

Juniors Aaron Spivey and Hayley Miles each took third in their respective triple jump events. Spivey finished the men’s event with a 45’ 0.5” jump and Miles had a 36’ 7.75” jump in the women’s event.

The team is done for the fall semester and competes in their next meet on Jan. 11 in the Scott Nisley Classic hosted by Doane University in Crete. Events are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.