Rodencal continues her dominance as Bulldog track and field sets more records
Senior Adrianna Rodencal wins first in the women’s 60-meter hurdles (photo from previous season).
Photo credit: Maddy Peters
By Kai Olbrich
Sports Editor
Another divided weekend for Concordia track and field brought headlines and records on Friday and Saturday as seven athletes took event titles and multiple national qualifying standards were achieved.
The Bulldogs were split between the Fred Beile Invite at Doane and the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitation at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
At the UNL meet, which was full of NCAA Division I and II competition, two Bulldogs stood out and set school records. The first was Adrianna Rodencal, who continued her record-breaking senior season by winning the 60-meter hurdles race. Her time of 8.26 put her .09 seconds ahead of second place and beat her own previous school record by .15. The time is also over a quarter of a second quicker than the second-ranked National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics runner. The time also crushed the automatic national qualifying standard. Rodencal also competed in the 200, where she finished 10th with a time of 24.96, which was just enough for the national B standard.
The other Bulldog to impress at the UNL meet was sophomore triple jumper Adysen McCarter, who broke her own school record with a 39’ 3” leap. Her effort beat everyone except one DI competitor and earned her the A standard for nationals.
Alongside the impressive results in Lincoln, the Bulldogs had success at Doane. Six athletes took first place while seven claimed runners-up honors in their respective events.
A Bulldog showdown in the men’s mile turned into an electric finish with junior Justin Sherman and freshman Keith Siek battling for first. Less than half a second separated the two coming into the last 200, and Sherman’s kick was just enough to edge out the victory with a 4:34.28. Seik came in just behind with a 4:34.55.
In much the same respect, the men’s 5k produced another down-to-the-wire finish. This time it was juniors Trey Robertson and Ransom Watts. The two Bulldogs were within a second of each other throughout the entire race, with Robertson claiming the win in 15:39.66 to Watts’ 15:40.31.
The women’s 5k was an identical podium makeup, but there was a bit more separation from first to second. Freshman Alison Stepanek took the event title in 19:49.90, with freshman Annika Staab breaking 20 with a 19:57.14 and earning second.
Just one Bulldog stood atop the podium in the women’s high jump. Freshman Makenna Starkey jumped 5’ 5 ¼” and achieved the B standard for national qualification.
Junior Marissa Heins accounted for the last two first-place marks. Heins opened up her first-place account with a shot put that reached 42’ 8”. She followed that up with a 52’ 7 ½” weight throw.
Some other second-place finishers were freshman Cooper Schelkopf in the 800 with a 2:00.12, sophomore Jessup Pederson with a 1:26.06 in the 600, junior Jax Jacobson with a 14’ 5 ¼” pole vault and freshman Cooper Stokebrand throwing his shot put 47’ 11 ¼”.
The track and field team is back in action on Feb. 14 for the final home event of the year, the Concordia Invitational. The events will be contained to one day that will begin at noon.
