Bulldog Weekly Report (April 30)

By Jacob Knabel on Apr. 30, 2019 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Female: Marlene Maier, Tennis

Maier, a senior from Uppsala, Sweden, helped the Bulldogs to a GPAC championship match appearance with her steady play at the top of the lineup. Maier won No. 1 singles matches in postseason victories over Midland and College of Saint Mary and concluded the season with a 17-3 singles record (school record for singles wins in a season).

Male: Sasha Jabusch, Baseball

Jabusch, a junior from Kelso, Wash., put together the top performance of his career in the GPAC title clinching win over Dordt last week. In that contest, Jabusch threw a seven-inning, two-hit shutout and notched 17 strikeouts. On the season, Jabusch is 6-2 with a 3.00 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 51 innings.

Previous Athletes of the Week
April 23 – Cody Williams (track & field) / Jessica Deterding (track & field)
April 16 – Jason Munsch (baseball) / Hhana Haro (softball)
April 9 – Cody Williams (track & field) / Kirsten Wagner (tennis)
April 2 – Wyatt Hambly (shooting sports) / Erin Lokke (shooting sports)
MARCH Athletes of the Month: Wyatt Hambly (shooting sports) / Grace Barry (basketball)
March 26 – Jesse Garcia (baseball) / Tori Homolka (softball)
March 17 – Grace Barry (basketball)
March 3 – Alberto Garcia (wrestling) / Jacee Pfeifer (track & field)
FEBRUARY Athletes of the Month: Josiah McAllister (track & field) / Taylor Cockerill (basketball)
Feb. 26 – Wade Council (baseball) / Philly Lammers (basketball)
Feb. 19 – Josiah McAllister (track & field) / Jacee Pfeifer (track & field)
Feb. 12 – Isaac Howes (tennis) / Quinn Wragge (basketball)
Feb. 5 – Cam Devers (wrestling) / Taylor Cockerill (basketball)
JANUARY Athletes of the Month: Brevin Sloup (basketball) / Taylor Grove (track & field)
Jan. 29 – Mario Ybarra (wrestling) / Taylor Grove (track & field)
Jan. 22 – Michael Stann (wrestling) / Addie Shaw (track & field)
Jan. 15 – Brevin Sloup (basketball) / Leah Larson (track & field)
Jan. 8 – Zack Moistner (wrestling) / Mackenzie Koepke (basketball)
DECEMBER Athletes of the Month: Tanner Shuck (basketball) / Philly Lammers (basketball)
Dec. 31 – Brevin Sloup (basketball) / Philly Lammers (basketball)
Dec. 18 – Taylor Cockerill (basketball) / Michael Stann (wrestling)
Dec. 11 – Deandre Chery (wrestling) / Philly Lammers (basketball)
Dec. 4 – Tanner Shuck (basketball) / Taylor Grove (track & field)
NOVEMBER Athletes of the Month: Alberto Garcia (wrestling) / Quinn Wragge (basketball)
Nov. 27 – Alberto Garcia (wrestling) / Taylor Grove (cross country) / Quinn Wragge (basketball)
Nov. 13 – Zac Walter (football) / Grace Barry (basketball)
Nov. 6 – Jack Bennett (soccer) / Tori Cera (soccer)
OCTOBER Athletes of the Month: Carlos Ferrer (soccer) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
Oct. 30 – Carlos Ferrer (soccer) / Taylor Cockerill (basketball)
Oct. 23 – Josiah McAllister (cross country) / Jenna Habegger (volleyball)
Oct. 16 – Carlos Ferrer (soccer) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
Oct. 9 – Kordell Glause (football) / Brynn Suddeth (soccer)
Oct. 2 – Zac Walter (football) / Maria Deeter (soccer)
SEPTEMBER Athletes of the Month: Ryan Durdon (football) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)
Sept. 25 – Roger de la Villa (soccer) / Erin Lokke (shooting sports)
Sept. 18 – Lane Napier (football) / Emmie Noyd (volleyball)
Sept. 11 – Ryan Durdon (football) / Marissa Hoerman (volleyball)
Sept. 4 – JP Verissimo (soccer) / Lauren Martin (soccer)
Aug. 28 – Garrett Perry (soccer) / Jenna Habegger (volleyball)

News and notes:

GPAC postseason action continues: GPAC spring championships are now in the books for both golf and tennis. In golf, Concordia placed seventh on the women’s side and ninth on the men’s side while completing conference championship rounds last week. Meanwhile, the Bulldog women’s tennis team nearly knocked off Hastings in the GPAC championship match in a 5-4 defeat. The Concordia men’s tennis team saw its season end in the conference semifinals. More GPAC championships are coming this week:
--Baseball: No. 1 seed and will host May 2-4 (championship game is May 7)
--Softball: No. 3 seed and will be at Morningside May 2-3 (championship series is May 4)
--Track & Field: will be at Mount Marty May 3-4 for the GPAC outdoor championships.

Women’s soccer spends spring redefining team and readying for beefed up 2019 schedule: The post-Maria Deeter era is here for the Concordia University women’s soccer program. Deeter will certainly go down as an all-time great, but life goes on for an outfit that has proven its success goes beyond any one individual. The question is now about what the 2019 team will look like and whether the Bulldogs can continue as one of the GPAC’s top dogs under head coach Greg Henson. For more on spring developments inside the women’s soccer program, click HERE.

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is underway in its fourth year of existence. The show airs live for a half hour every Thursday beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT on KTMX-FM 104.9 Max Country. The weekly feature can also be heard live via 104.9 Max Country’s website or by downloading the Max Country app. Throughout the 2018-19 season, Bulldog football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball contests will be aired live on Max Country. Tyler Cavalli serves as the host of the coaches’ show as well as the play-by-play voice for football and basketball. Frank Greene is in his fourth season calling Concordia volleyball.

Concordia Sports Network: Live webcasts for most home varsity contests can be accessed by visiting http://www.cune.edu/csn at game time. Check team schedules/results pages for webcast dates. Scrimmages, exhibitions and junior varsity events are not broadcasted.

Baseball

  • For the second time in three seasons, the Concordia baseball program has claimed an outright GPAC regular season title. The Bulldogs picked up the clinching win in the third game of a four-game weekend series with Dordt as the regular season came to a conclusion. Concordia took three of four from the Defenders while locking up an automatic bid to the national tournament. Fifth-year head coach Ryan Dupic’s squad finished the regular season at 29-17 overall and at 23-5 in conference play. For more information on Bulldog baseball, click HERE.
  • The 2019 team has broken program records for most conference wins (23) and highest conference winning percentage (.821) in a season. Those are also the best marks within GPAC play for any conference school since Doane went a perfect 20-0 during the 2014 season. Dupic’s GPAC championship squad of 2017 went 19-9 in league games and still holds the school record for most overall wins (34) in a season. The 2019 team currently ranks No. 2 all-time for overall wins having just moved above the 2016 squad that won 28 games.
  • The pitching staff deserves plenty of credit for the trophy season. Fittingly, Concordia closed the regular season with two 3-0 shutouts in the doubleheader sweep of Dordt. In the 28 conference games, Bulldog pitchers posted a remarkable team ERA of 2.31, far and away the best in the GPAC. Concordia had seven pitchers who logged at least 15 innings in conference play record a GPAC ERA of under 3.00. The leader in that group was ace reliever Dylan DuRee, who allowed just one earned run in 21.2 innings of GPAC action.
  • Jake Fosgett and Jason Munsch have gotten plenty of credit in this space for their role in the conference title, but junior lefty Sasha Jabusch took a backseat to no one last week. The Bulldogs rode Jabusch to the clinching win. The native of Kelso, Wash., racked up 17 strikeouts in a seven-inning two-hit shutout in which he did not walk a single hitter. Jabusch recorded out No. 21 on a fly ball to left that set off a dogpile near the pitcher’s mound. On the season, Jabusch is 6-2 with a 3.00 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 51 innings.
  • This is the greatest pitching staff in school history – and we’re talking about a group that lost the 2018 GPAC Pitcher of the Year. The success this season is largely due to the growth of the likes of starters in Fosgett, Munsch and Wauhob and relievers in DuRee, Lukas Diehm, Ryan Samuelson and Jared Schipper. Throw in the transfer addition of Jabusch and you have the makings of stellar staff. It’s one with a ridiculous strikeouts per nine innings rate of 10.9. The overall season strikeout number of 421 is a new school record.
  • The lineup has also been solid, led by star second baseman Christian Meza. Despite the cold conditions this past Saturday, Meza collected five hits in the final home regular season doubleheader of his fine career. The San Diego native owns the program record for career doubles (51) and also sports school all-time rankings of second in hits (210), third in RBIs (138), fourth in games played (182) and sixth in runs scored (115). Meza has been a key figure for both the 2017 and 2019 GPAC championship teams.
  • Meza also happens to be the headliner for a senior class that is 10 deep. The impact players of the bunch, from a statistical perspective, have been DuRee, Meza, shortstop Logan Ryan, Schipper and Wauhob. Often unsung, Ryan is enjoying his best season in his senior campaign. The native of Johnston, Iowa, is the program’s all-time leader in assists (486). Only one player (Zak Goodrich – 190) has played in more games as a Bulldog than Ryan, who has appeared in 187 as a four-year starter.
  • It’s fair to say that the makeup of the 2019 squad compared to the 2017 team is different. What’s impressive is how Dupic built the program back to a championship level with many new parts. Sandwiched in between championship seasons was a seventh place GPAC finish in 2018. With perennially strong Jamestown joining the league in 2019, few expected anyone other than the Jimmies to be GPAC champions. This 2019 Concordia squad averages nearly a run fewer per game than the 2017 group, but pitching has made the difference.
  • GPAC postseason play is up next for the top-seeded Bulldogs. As the top seed, Concordia will take on eighth-seeded Doane (18-28, 12-16 GPAC) at 6 p.m. on Thursday as part of the double elimination format. Fourth-seeded Dakota Wesleyan and fifth-seeded Mount Marty will also be on hand in the Concordia Bracket. For a preview of the tournament, click HERE. The GPAC championship game will be played next Tuesday (May 7).

Tennis

  • The improvement made by the tennis programs in 2019 was made even more obvious by their level of competitiveness last week at the GPAC tournament. The women came up a hair short of hoisting the GPAC postseason championship trophy before falling, 5-4, to top-seeded Hastings. Marlene Maier and company got to that point with conference tournament wins over Midland and College of Saint Mary. Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded Concordia men defeated Morningside in the quarterfinals and then were ousted by No. 1 seed Doane in the semifinals. Head coach David DeSimone’s squads finished at 15-6 overall on the women’s side and 10-10 on the men’s side. For more information on Bulldog tennis: Men | Women.
  • The 2019 Concordia women’s tennis team may be the greatest in program history. By advancing to the postseason championship match, theses Bulldogs became the first to do so since the 2011 team coached by Amy Harms. That ’11 team did not stand much chance in the title match. (It lost a 5-0 decision to Nebraska Wesleyan). Via last week’s wins over Midland and College of Saint Mary, the 2019 Concordia team set a new program single season standard with 15 victories.
  • The Bulldogs weren’t far off win No. 16. The GPAC title came down to No. 1 singles with the team score tied, 4-4. That’s where Maier dropped a heartbreaker in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, to Kelsey Brown of the Broncos. It’s a tough defeat for Maier, but her first and only season with Concordia was an undeniable success. The transfer from Alcorn State University (Miss.) went 17-3 while playing at No. 1 singles in 20 matches this season.
  • Maier’s 17 singles wins are a new school record. The previous standard is believed to be the 15 singles wins claimed by 2018 graduate Annie Horn in 2017. Taylor Cook produced 14 singles wins in 2009 for a Bulldog squad that went 12-3 overall. Two of Maier’s three losses this season came at the hands of Brown. The first one was a 6-2, 6-0, score in what was also a 5-4 team loss that occurred in the regular season. Maier and Katelinn Wurm were the lone two seniors in this year’s lineup.
  • The women’s team will have a nice nucleus back for 2020 with the obvious difficult-to-replace departure of Maier. One of the hallmarks of the team’s success this season was the depth of its lineup. Consider that Concordia produced respective overall season records of 14-6 at No. 4, 16-4 at No. 5 and 16-5 at No. 6. Junior Angela Bell was especially good at the end of the lineup, going 12-3 while playing regularly at both No. 5 and 6. The question will be about how much it will affect everyone without Maier at the top.
  • It was a nice bounce back season for the men, who had gone 1-4 in the GPAC in 2018 and were quickly eliminated from the conference tournament by Morningside. This year’s squad avenged that defeat by ending Morningside’s season in the 2019 quarterfinals. In the blowout of the Mustangs, Doubles teams of Thomas Greeff and Jeremy Berryman at No. 1, junior Luke Zoller and freshman Jack Kitson at No. 2 and freshmen Joseph Bindl and Isaac Howes at No. 3 all came out on top. The Bulldogs finished off the win by claiming singles triumphs courtesy of Greeff at No. 1, Berryman at No. 2 and Howes at No. 4.
  • The men will also have to replace their No. 1 next season with Greeff set to graduate. Collectively this season, the Concordia men produced records of 62-52 in singles and 28-32 in doubles. Individual singles wins leaders were Howes (13-7), Conner Works (11-8), Berryman (10-9) and Zoller (9-9). In doubles, the pace setters were Kitson (10-10), Zoller (9-11) and Berryman (8-12). Like Greeff, Works is also a senior.
  • DeSimone will have a full offseason to work with those who will make up the 2019-20 tennis teams. DeSimone was hired in the middle of February when the tennis season had already started. As a collegiate player at NCAA Division III Kalamazoo College (Mich.), DeSimone earned recognition as a two-time team MVP and a two-time first team all-conference choice.

Golf

  • The 2018-19 Concordia golf seasons have come to an end. Both teams finished up the spring last week with the third and fourth rounds of the GPAC Championships. There was a bit of disappointment on both sides, with the Bulldog men and women giving ground from their sixth-place standings after the fall. Head coach Brett Muller’s squads turned in GPAC finishes of seventh on the women’s side (334-338-370-389–1,431) and ninth on the men’s side (309-300-326-320–1,255). For more information on Bulldog golf: Men | Women.
  • With Kendra Placke and Murphy Sears both coming back on the women’s side, Concordia will have the ability to make a jump in 2019-20. It just needs to build depth behind its top two in the lineup. Placke polished off a strong freshman season by placing in a tie for fifth on the GPAC leaderboard. Placke’s four-round conference total of 75-78-88-89–330 is 11 strokes off what it took for Amy Ahlers to claim a conference title in 2016-17. Placke paced the women’s team by shooting an average score of 81.46 in 13 rounds.
  • The men will have big shoes to fill at the top of the lineup with the graduation of Nolan Zikas, who is a three-time All-GPAC honoree, a cancer survivor, team captain and winner of the David Toms Overcoming Adversity award. Last week did not go quite as Zikas would have scripted it. He shot a 74 on day one and an 80 on day two at Dakota Dunes Country Club. His GPAC total of 76-74-74-80–304 placed him in a tie for 18th in the conference. In his career, Zikas won three tournaments and claimed 17 top 10 tournament placements. He finishes his career with several program records, including standards for lowest single-season average (74.06) and lowest career average (75.60).
  • Sears could wind up being selected to the all-conference team for a third year in a row. The Crete, Neb., native was unable to duplicate the performances she put together at the fall GPAC rounds (83-75). She wound up in 14th place in the GPAC after carding a total of 83-75-92-95–345. For the season, Sears averaged a score of 86.62. Her best effort of the season was the three-over-par 75 she recorded in the second round of the GPAC championships back in the fall.
  • From the women’s perspective, the highlight of the 2018-19 season was the 332 it put up at its own Concordia Spring Invitational on March 28. That team score is now the program record for lowest 18-hole total. Muller hopes to see more of that moving forward. The team scoring average for the year stood at 360.46. The scores ranged from the low of 332 to a high of 393.
  • The men were not quite as good in the second semester after some roster departures. In addition, junior Tylar Samek fell off a bit in the third and fourth rounds of the conference championships. Samek ended up in a tie for 26th with a four-round total of 74-70-85-83–312. Two other Bulldogs qualified for the individual GPAC leaderboard (must play in all four championship rounds): junior Tylar Samek (74-70-85-83–312; T-26th) and sophomore Jayden Neal (80-83-89-76–328; T-36th). The remaining Concordia competitors this week were freshman Jack Williams (81-83) and sophomore Harrison Helmer (86-81). All four have a chance to be part of what will hopefully be an improved squad next season.
  • Optimism comes from the lack of seniors on this year’s men’s and women’s teams. Grant Suchanek and Zikas are the lone seniors on the men’s roster. The only senior on the women’s roster is Madison Pitsch, who did not compete in the second semester. The men added an impact player in freshman Jack Williams with the start of the second semester. There will be a hole at the top for the men without Zikas.

Softball

  • The regular season is complete for the Bulldogs, who finally were able to play a couple of home doubleheaders last week. Concordia will carry a three-game win streak into the postseason. Last week’s action resulted in a doubleheader split with College of Saint Mary (both games decided by the run rule) and a doubleheader sweep of Dordt on senior day. At 26-10 overall and 15-7 in conference play, the Bulldogs will be the No. 3 seed in the GPAC tournament this weekend. For more information on Concordia softball, click HERE.
  • Head coach Shawn Semler’s squad had planned on playing more games this season, but Mother Nature did not always cooperate. Even with the lack of rhythm to the campaign, the Bulldogs made a nice leap forward from a 21-21 overall record in 2018. The team’s current win percentage of .722 would rank third best in program history behind the 1998 (33-10, .767) and 2008 (31-11, .738) teams. The 2005 GPAC championship team that went 36-19 overall remains the winningest in school history.
  • Concordia entered this past Saturday’s final twin bill of the regular season having split its previous four GPAC doubleheaders. Another split appeared likely until Tori Homolka delivered a pinch hit, three-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Bulldogs to a 5-4 win. It was a big difference from the first game that was dominated by freshman Camry Moore, who tossed a two-hit shutout and produced three hits in a 7-0 victory. That duo helped Concordia to its first doubleheader sweep since April 14 over Mount Marty.
  • It’s been a close race for the unofficial title of team MVP between Homolka and 2018 GPAC Player of the Year Hhana Haro. Let’s start with Homolka. The native of Swanton, Neb., has been one of the great breakout stories of this spring. The extra base power had wavered a bit in recent action, but the walk-off should be a good shot of confidence for Homolka. Her numbers on the season are tremendous: .386 batting average, 34 runs, 10 doubles, four triples, six home runs, 32 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, .417 on-base percentage and .669 slugging percentage.
  • Haro is about the last player an opposing GPAC pitcher wants to see at the plate in a clutch situation – or really any time. In last week’s action, the native of Garden Grove, Calif., went a combined 7-for-11 (.636) with five runs, two doubles, two home runs and five RBIs. College of Saint Mary issued her an intentional walk in a twin bill in which she was never officially retired. Haro’s numbers are also fantastic: .429 batting average, 27 runs, nine doubles, six home runs, 35 RBIs, .489 on-base percentage and .670 slugging percentage.
  • If you ask Semler, he believes Moore is still only scratching the surface of her vast potential. That’s saying something considering her freshman season has been more than solid. As a pitcher, Moore owns a 2.80 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 112.2 innings. She has walked only eight hitters. At the plate, the Crete High School product is hitting .353 with five doubles, three home runs and 23 RBIs. She’s now fired three shutouts this season.
  • The senior class played at home for the final time on a blustery and cold day this past weekend. That group includes the likes of pitcher Brittany Woolridge and regular position players such as second baseman Leah Kalkwarf, shortstop Jamie Lefebure and outfielder Elanna Osthoff. Out of that group, Woolridge has been especially impactful this season having gone 13-2 in the circle with her ERA at 2.75. Kalkwarf had her best season in 2017 when she was named first team All-GPAC.
  • If this team is to reach the national tournament like the 2014 and 2015 squads did, it will have to make a run in the GPAC tournament. As the No. 3 seed, Concordia must either win the GPAC tournament or be the tournament runner up to the regular season champion in order to earn a national berth. At various times this season, the Bulldogs have been ranked by Massey Ratings as the top team in the conference. They are currently third (45th nationally), according to Massey Ratings.
  • The third-seeded Bulldogs will open up postseason play at 10 a.m. on Thursday when they will take on No. 6 seed Mount Marty (20-22, 11-11 GPAC). Concordia will be playing in Sioux City, Iowa, as part of the Morningside Bracket. The tournament is a double elimination format with a championship series set to be contested on Saturday. The complete bracket can be viewed HERE.

Track & Field

  • There’s no more time to waste with the GPAC outdoor track and field championships coming up this Friday and Saturday in Yankton, S.D. Bulldog athletes represented the program at three separate meets last week: Prairie Wolf Outdoor Invitational (April 25), Drake Relays (April 26) and the Concordia Blizzard Buster (April 27). Most significantly, each of those meets yielded a new automatic national qualifying mark for head coach Matt Beisel’s squads. For more on Concordia track and field, click HERE.
  • Through the first five weeks of the outdoor season, Bulldogs athletes have totaled 23 automatic national qualifying marks and 13 ‘B’ standard marks (see list below). Of the 36 marks put on the national board, 19 have been achieved by throwers. Familiar names in Samantha Liermann, Addie Shaw, Carley Weisser and Cody Williams lead the way with two automatic marks apiece. In addition, several Bulldog women met the minimum qualifying standard in the heptathlon at the Dutcher Memorial, including Jessica Deterding.
    • Women’s 4x400 meter relay – (A, 3:54.44)
    • 4x800 meter relay – (B, 7:45.73)
    • Evan Asche – marathon (A, 1:13:30 in half)
    • Allie Brooks – pole vault (B, 11’ 7”)
    • Jacob Cornelio – hammer throw (A, 195’); discus (B, 158’)
    • Claire Cornell – long jump (A, 18’ 10 ¾”)
    • Morgan De Jong – discus (B, 141’ 7”)
    • Jessica Deterding – ranked No. 3 in NAIA in heptathlon; long jump (B, 18’ 9”)
    • Jazzy Eickhoff – javelin (A, 134’ 1”)
    • McKenzie Gravo – pole vault (A, 12’ 2 ¾”)
    • Taylor Grove – marathon (A, 1:25:04 in half)
    • Liam Hennessy – hammer throw (A, 175’ 3”); shot put (B, 51’ 3 ½”)
    • Mackenzie Koepke – high jump (A, 5’ 5 ¾”)
    • Leah Larson – triple jump (A, 38’ 3 ½”)
    • Wyatt Lehr – marathon (B, 1:14:12 in half)
    • Samantha Liermann – shot put (A, 48’ 10 ¼”); hammer throw (A, 177’ 10”); discus (B, 141’ 9”)
    • Erin Mapson – pole vault (A, 12’ 5 ½”)
    • Tristen Mosier – pole vault (A, 11’ 9 ¾”)
    • Renato Oyarzun – hammer throw (B, 166’ 9”)
    • Johanna Ragland – hammer throw (A, 165’ 3”); shot put (B, 43’ 9 ¼”)
    • Ryan Sanchez – hammer throw (A, 175’ 4”)
    • Adrianna Shaw – hammer throw (A, 183’ 4”); discus (A, 154’ 9”); shot put (B, 44’ 2 ¾”)
    • Bethany Shaw – discus (A, 147’ 2”)
    • Sam Sisco – pole vault (B, 15’ 3”)
    • Carley Weisser – discus (A, 150’ 3”); hammer throw (A, 166’ 9”)
    • Cody Williams – pole vault (A, 15’ 7”); high jump (A, 6’ 9 ¾”); 110 meter hurdles (B, 14.80)
  • The new ‘A’ standards last week were delivered by the women’s 4x400 meter relay, Leah Larson (triple jump) and Carley Weisser (hammer throw). The women’s 4x4 locked up its spot at the national championships by clocking a time of 3:54.44 while circling the blue oval at the Drake Relays. It was the first time this outdoor season that the Bulldogs ran their top group of Rachel Battershell, Sarah Lewis, Jamie Nikodym and Jacee Pfeifer. That same quartet broke the program indoor 4x4 record and collected All-America honors.
  • The indoor triple jump school record holder and an All-American in 2019, senior Leah Larson expected to be a national championships entrant this outdoor season. She had come close to hitting the ‘A’ standard in the triple all season before breaking through with a mark of 38’ 3 ½” for a personal best at the Blizzard Buster. That measurement ranks No. 3 on the school’s outdoor list behind Charista Zehnder (38’ 9 ½”) and Jericca Pearson (38’ 4”).
  • If things come together at the right time, Concordia has the potential to score big points in the women’s pole vault at both the conference and national levels. On the current national leaderboard, the Bulldogs boast two of the top three (Erin Mapson and McKenzie Gravo) and four of the top 13. Mapson, Gravo (season best last week at the Prairie Wolf Invite) and Tristen Mosier have all cleared the ‘A’ standard. Allie Brooks has not yet met the ‘A’ standard, but is currently sitting 13th in the NAIA (top 16 go to nationals).
  • Also at the Blizzard Buster, sophomore Cody Williams posted a personal best of 22’ 11 ¾” in the long jump and moved up to No. 2 in the GPAC in that category. Williams has gotten away from competing in the multi-events, but he continues to display his well-rounded athletic ability. On the current GPAC lists, Williams possesses five different marks that each rank inside the top three. He was the indoor national runner up in the heptathlon.
  • The women’s team is hoping to repeat its indoor GPAC title, which was made possible with the help of conference event championships from the women’s 4x400 meter relay, Allie Brooks (pole vault) and Taylor Grove (3,000 meters). On the men’s side, 2019 GPAC indoor titles were captured by Jacob Cornelio (weight throw), Josiah McAllister (1,000 meters), Thomas Taylor (800 meters) and Cody Williams (heptathlon). GPAC titles were won at the 2018 outdoor conference meet by Grove (10,000 meters), Liermann (shot put) and Williams (decathlon). The team place finishes at the 2018 GPAC outdoor championships were third on the women’s side and sixth on the men’s side.
  • Bulldogs who possess No. 1 conference marks heading into the GPAC meet include: the women’s 4x400 meter relay, Mapson (pole vault) and Addie Shaw (hammer throw). A bevy of Concordia athletes are also in the top two or three on those lists. Based on the USTFCCCA ratings from last week, which have the Bulldogs with national rankings of second on the women’s side and 14th on the women’s side, Concordia is projected first in the GPAC for women and second in the conference for men.
  • The 2019 GPAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships are set to begin at 11:30 a.m. CT on Friday with the multi-events being the first action. The program last captured GPAC outdoor titles in 2015 for the men and 2012 for the women. For the meet schedule, click HERE.