Bulldog distance medley teams shine on day one of Polar Dog Dual
SEWARD, Neb. – The Bulldogs kicked off the 2012-13 indoor track and field season on Friday evening with day one of the team’s Polar Dog dual event against conference rival Hastings. Head coach Kregg Einspahr’s squads, which played host inside the Concordia University Fieldhouse, turned in several impressive marks, including great performances by both the Bulldog men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams that fell just short of NAIA automatic qualifying times.
“They’ve been training really well and I thought they all competed really well today,” assistant coach Mark Samuels said. “We had three or four of our girls have personal bests in the (multi events) and multiple personal bests throughout all of the events they were competing in, so it was a really good start to the first meet of our season.
“On the men’s side, Brandon Ramos had a great high jump today. He jumped 6’ 4”, which was really good for him, and that just kind of set the tone for a good first day. And then we had a couple of our distance medley relay teams come close to national qualifying marks.”
Concordia’s women’s distance medley quartet topped Hastings by more than a full minute as it clocked in at 12:45.76, roughly five seconds off the NAIA qualifying mark. The Bulldogs were represented in the event by freshmen Kim Wood and Jessica Klaustermeier, junior Megan Letts and senior Jena Schwalenberg, who finished the race strong by completing the final leg.
The men’s distance relay posted a time of 10:23.93 behind the efforts of sophomore Ben Sievert and junior Ben Hinckfoot, senior Jared Hoffman and junior Adam Prahlow. That time was only .43 seconds short of the NAIA qualifying time and almost 40 seconds faster than the time turned in by Hastings’ distance medley team.
Individually, sophomore Theresa Staley and junior Beau Billings both captured individual titles in the 5,000 meter run. Staley beat out teammate Haley Harpham, a freshman who finished second, with a time of 21:22.97. Meanwhile, Billings came in at 16:09.10 to top fellow Bulldog Joel Heckmann by about 14 seconds.
Freshman Katelyn Shoup debuted with a solid performance in the shot put. Her mark of 33’ 1 ¾” put her atop the leaderboard on Friday, ahead of Concordia’s Myria Knapp and her figure of 32’ 3”. Shoup also competed in the 60 meter hurdles, the high jump and the long jump as part of the women’s pentathlon.
Junior Lydia Pomerenke, a Seward native, tallied a total of 2,787 points in the pentathlon to finish 97 behind Hastings’ Audrey Gaspers at the head of the pack. Pomerenke was consistent across the board with top-three marks in the 60 meter hurdles (third), high jump (third), shot put (third) and long jump (third).
Ramos’ high jump, referenced by Samuels, placed him third on the night. The redshirt freshman also competed favorably in a trio of additional categories.
Day two of the dual meet will pick up Saturday with a full slate of competitions. Saturday’s action will begin with more multi events followed by field and running events. Check out the complete schedule HERE.
“I’m looking to see how the team competes,” Samuels said. “Everybody’s a little tired right now. We’ve been training all fall to get ready for the season. Christmas break is always a nice time to get a little recovery, but we want to see where we’re at and where we need to improve. I really want to see where our male sprinters are at in the 200 and 400 area and then that 4x4 that will be trying to go for a national qualifying mark.”
