Track and field team takes Hastings by storm in outdoor Track and Field championships

Junior Luke Hammang crosses the finish line (photo from previous meet).

Photo credit: Maddy Peters

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

The Concordia track and field team traveled to Hastings to participate in the Great Plains Athletic Conference outdoor track and field championships from May 2-3. The women took second in the team scores with 163 points and the men were fourth with 103 points.

The Bulldogs came out of the meet with eight event champions, eight second place wins and five third place wins. Two athletes also punched an auto qualifying mark for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics meet in Marion, Ind.

No GPAC track and field meet would be complete without junior Adrianna Rodencal coming in to take the podium by storm. Rodencal took first in three events: 13.66 time in the 100-meter hurdles, 24.69 time in the 200-meter dash and a 58.90 time in the 400-meter hurdles.

The sprinter also took third place in the women’s 100-meter dash with a time of 12.12 and was the anchor for the women’s 4×100-meter relay alongside freshman Adysen McCarter, junior Kayla Kirchner and senior Emily Loeske.

To top off her GPAC accolades, Rodencal was named the GPAC Female Outstanding Athlete of the Meet for the fourth time in her career. She added 47 team points to the team total.

Kirchner also put up a few other podium finishes including third in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 57.41 and was the anchor for the second place women’s 4×400-meter relay alongside senior Trinity Tuls, Kirchner’s sister sophomore Tayden Kirchner and senior Isabelle Salters with a time of 3:56.97.

Freshman Easton Fries made the board with a second place finish in the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.53.

The racewalking aficionado freshman Jonny Jurchen also made his return to the track after bouts of illness. Jurchen surpassed the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics A-standard time in the men’s 5,000-meter race walk with a time of 23:47.49. Sophomore walker Luke Hammang was second in the event with a time of 24:03.73.

Sophomore Addie Reimer was the best placing Bulldog in the multi-events with a third-place finish in the women’s heptathlon. She finished with 4,204 points.

On the field side, the throwers took the main stage led by sophomore Nathan Baldwin. Baldwin won first in the men’s discus with a throw of 51.57-meters and third in the men’s hammer throw with a heave of 55.80-meters.

The other champions in throwing were senior Abi Wohlgemuth who won first in the women’s hammer throw with an A-standard result of 54.88-meters. She stands at third on the leaderboard. Sophomore Emry Gutz threw a 57.52-meter javelin to take first in the men’s javelin throw. Junior Matthew Boyer was right behind him in second place with a 57.15-meter throw.

Senior Abigail Gerber made the podium in the women’s shot put with a second place throw of 13.96-meters. Fellow senior Connor Asche was second in the men’s event with a throw of 16.31-meters.

Junior Mayson Ostermeyer led the jump crew with a first place finish in the men’s pole vault. Ostermeyer hit the 4.80-meter mark.

McCarter won second in the women’s triple jump alongside her sprinting accomplishments. She had a final jump of 11.93-meters. The women’s long jump also had some Bulldog representation with sophomore Kiki Nyanok and junior Hayley Miles winning second and third respectively. Nyanok had a 5.67-meter jump and Miles had a 5.52-meter leap.

The team returns to Seward for some of their last meets before nationals going from May 21-23. On May 9, the Bulldogs host the Concordia University, Nebraska Twilight Meet which starts at 2 p.m. On May 10, the team heads to Kearney for the UNK Loper Twilight Meet.