Track and field hosts Concordia University Nebraska invitational, pushing through wind and weather

Senior Abigail Gerber setting up her discus throw.

Photo credit: Maddy Peters

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

The Concordia track and field team braved the wind to host a condensed version of the Concordia University Nebraska Invitational on April 5.

The invite was cut down earlier in the week due to poor forecasted conditions but still drew a fair number of competitors to Concordia’s campus. Concordia’s throwers were especially given a moment to shine with the bulk of awards going to them. Overall, there were 12 golds, seven silvers and eight bronzes on the day and one new automatic qualifier.

Senior Abigail Gerber had a fantastic day out in the blustery fields with a win in every event she competed in. Gerber was first in women’s discus with a 42.12-meter throw, first in the women’s hammer throw with a 49.87-meter throw and first in the women’s shot put with a 14.40-meter throw. Her shot put throw was good to qualify her for the national event.

Gerber was joined on the podium by sophomore Aliyah Sinn in the discus who took third place with a 39.13-meter throw and by sophomore Marissa Heins in the hammer throw with a third place throw of 47.26 meters.

Other throwing wins included sophomore Nathan Baldwin who won first in the men’s discus with a throw of 47.65 meters. Junior Matthew Boyer won third in the same event with a throw of 43.83 meters. Boyer was also third in the men’s javelin with a 58.31-meter toss.

Concordia swept the podium in the men’s hammer throw with senior Connor Asche taking first with a heft of 53.60 meters, junior Josiah Edwards in second with a 50.35-meter throw and senior Austen Rozelle with a 49.30-meter throw.

Baldwin also took second in the men’s shot put with a throw of 15.30 meters. Junior Carson Fehlhafer was third in the same event with a throw of 15.07 meters.

Concordia jumps were moved indoors to the fieldhouse to avoid the dangerous wind. With winds at 22 miles per hour and gusts up to 35 mph, conditions were unsafe for jumps.

Nonetheless, the jumping crew was led by the usual suspect, junior Mayson Ostermeyer, who won first in the men’s pole vault with a jump of 4.81 meters and by newcomer freshman Adysen McCarter who stunned in the previous competition in Kearney with a new triple jump record. McCarter returned to take first with a 11.62-meter leap.

Alongside McCarter in the triple jump was junior Josi Noble who posted a 11.29-meter jump that was good for second place. Fellow junior Aaron Spivey took second in the men’s event with a 13.69-meter leap. In the women’s long jump, sophomore Kiki Nyanok took second place with a 5.58-meter leap. Not wanting to be left out in the competition, junior Adrianna Rodencal took a break from the running to win third in the women’s long jump with a 5.41-meter jump.

Finally, sophomore Addie Reimer won second in the women’s high jump with a final completed mark of 1.61 meters.

Sprints and most mid-distance events were cut out of the program earlier in the week due to both the winds and a chance of rain making the events unsafe. However, Coach Matt Beisel left the distance events and the 800-meter run to give some track athletes an opportunity to put up some times.

The big name event of the day was the men’s 5,000-meter run where sophomore Trey Robertson won the race in a photo finish just three milliseconds ahead of second place with a final time of 15:12.82.

Concordia took first in the women’s 5,000-meter run as well with senior Ellie Jander posting the winning time of 19:41.89. Sophomore Luke Hammang won first in the men’s 5,000-meter race walk with a time of 25:50.36.

The Bulldogs also took first in both the men and women’s 800-meter run with freshman Lucas Corwin posting a 2:00.53 time in the men’s and senior Trinity Tuls putting up a 2:17.83 in the women’s.

The last two medals of the day came in the men’s 1,500-meter run with junior Trevor Kuncl winning second with a time of 4:09.09 and sophomore Justin Sherman taking third with a time of 4:17.80.

Track and field should all be able to compete at the Hastings College Bronco Invite on April 12 in Hastings starting at 11 a.m. barring any poor weather that pops up in the next week.