Bulldog Athletic Association Member (BAAM) Athletes of the Week
Female: Mackenzie Toomey, Basketball
Toomey, a Lincoln native and Lincoln Southeast High School alum, helped the Bulldogs to two wins last week while producing a combined 25 points, nine rebounds, six steals and two blocked shots. Her 19 points in the victory over Dakota Wesleyan marked a career high.
Male: Carter Kent, Basketball
The string of BAAM weekly awards continues for Kent (Crete, Neb.), who notched a career high 35 points in last week’s contest at Mount Marty. In the win over Dakota Wesleyan, Kent then struck for 19 points, six assists and five rebounds. He is averaging a team high 17.2 points per game this season.
Previous BAAM Athletes of the Week
Dec. 14 – Carter Kent (basketball) / Sarah Lewis (track & field)
Dec. 7 – Carter Kent (basketball) / Gabi Nordaker (volleyball)
Nov. 30 – Noah Schutte (basketball) / Taysha Rushton (basketball)
Nov. 16 – Korrell Koehlmoos (football) / Bree Burtwistle (volleyball)
Nov. 9 – Camden Sesna (cross country) / Gabi Nordaker (volleyball)
Nov. 2 – Carter Kent (basketball) / Camryn Opfer (volleyball)
Oct. 26 – Peyton Mitchell (football) / Lexie Kreizel (volleyball)
Oct. 19 – Lane Napier (football) / Kalie Ward (soccer)
Oct. 12 – Caydren Cox (football) / Kalee Wiltfong (volleyball)
Oct. 5 – DJ McGarvie (football) / Sarah Schwacher (shooting sports)
Sept. 28 – Wyatt Hambly (shooting sports) / Gabi Nordaker (volleyball)
Sept. 21 – Camden Sesna (cross country) / Lina Kirst (soccer) / Grace Reiman (cross country) / Carly Rodaway (volleyball)
Sept. 14 – Caydren Cox (football) / Mikeila Martinez (soccer)
Sept. 7 – Drew D’Ercole (golf) / Ivan Yabut (golf) / Erica Heinzerling (volleyball)
Aug. 31 – Martin Herrera (soccer) / Camryn Opfer (volleyball)
BAAM Athletes of the Month
November – Noah Schutte (basketball) / Gabi Nordaker (volleyball)
October – Lane Napier (football) / Camryn Opfer (volleyball)
September – Caydren Cox (football) / Gabi Nordaker (volleyball)
News and notes:
BAAM luncheons are held every Tuesday at 12 p.m. CT inside the Dog House Grill, located in the Janzow Campus Center. The luncheons feature reports from head coaches who are in season at the time.
Game/event days on campus: Concordia Athletics continues to welcome fans to its venues for sporting events. Currently, there are no attendance limits. Before visiting road venues involving Bulldog teams, fans should be sure to check the spectator policies on those particular campuses. Other locations may require the use of face coverings. Once again, fans attending varsity sporting events at Concordia are able to purchase advance tickets online via HomeTown Ticketing. Tickets will also be sold on site on the day of events. Should any policies or protocols for fans change, updated information will be available on the athletics fan information page HERE.
Concordia Invitational Tournament canceled: In conjunction with the participating Concordias, Concordia University, Nebraska announced the cancellation of the 2022 Concordia Invitational Tournament on Jan. 7. CUNE was set to host the event in both 2021 and 2022, however, the tournament was canceled both years due to concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19 in the region and nationally. The CIT announcement does not impact any other previously scheduled events. The Bulldog Basketball teams continued action this past week within league play. For more on the cancellation of CIT, click HERE.
Concordia announces first head coach of Concordia Powerlifting: Concordia Athletics will soon expand its sport offerings. The Athletic Department announced the launch of men’s and women’s powerlifting on Nov. 9. The two programs will begin competition during the 2022-23 academic year. The program’s first head coach is Freddie Myles, who officially started on the job shortly after New Year’s Day. For more on Coach Myles, click HERE. Like all other intercollegiate sports at Concordia, the powerlifting programs will offer athletic scholarships to student-athletes. For more on this development, click HERE.
Best of 2021: The calendar year 2021 featured a series of conference championships, national tournament runs, high NAIA national placements and starring individual performances. For a rundown on the best Concordia Athletics moments of 2021, sport-by-sport, click HERE.
Postseason honors pour in for Napier: The incomparable Lane Napier continued to scoop up postseason awards throughout the month of December. The most recent honors for Napier included recognition as an NAIA First Team All-American by both the American Football Coaches Association and the Associated Press, Honorary Captain of the Omaha World-Herald’s All-Midlands Team and a nominee for the Cliff Harris Award (presented to the nation’s top small college defensive player). In addition, tight end Garrett Schardt was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the AFCA. Napier and Schardt were also two of 11 Bulldogs to be honored on the All-Midlands Team, which can be viewed HERE.
Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is underway in its seventh 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 2021-22 season, Bulldog football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball contests will be aired live on Max Country. Parker Cyza 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 seventh season calling Concordia volleyball.
Concordia Sports Network: Live webcasts for most home varsity contests can be accessed by visiting https://www.cune.edu/athletics/watch-bulldogs at game time. Beginning in 2019-20, Concordia Athletics partnered with PrestoSports for live video and statistical streaming. For more details on this change, click HERE. Check team schedules/results pages for webcast dates. Scrimmages, exhibitions and junior varsity events are not broadcasted.
Women’s Basketball
· The winning streak within conference play has reached six as the Bulldogs won twice last week in decisive fashion – 83-58 at Mount Marty on Jan. 5 and 90-58 at home over Dakota Wesleyan on Jan. 8. The streak also includes victories over No. 12 Northwestern, Mount Marty (on Dec. 8), Hastings and Doane. Both Northwestern and Doane were defeated in overtime contests. Head Coach Drew Olson’s squad has moved to 11-6 overall and to 8-3 within the league (second place). Concordia owns a home record of 8-1. For more information on Concordia Women’s Basketball, click HERE.
· The Bulldogs remain at No. 22 in the NAIA national poll with the most recent rankings have come out on Dec. 15. Since the release of that poll, Concordia has gone 3-2 with the two defeats being handed out by No. 1 Campbellsville University (Ky.) and No. 3 Thomas More University (Ky.) in action in Honolulu, Hawaii (Dec. 18-19). Based upon those results, Concordia stands a good chance at remaining in the top 25 that will be unveiled on Wednesday. According to Massey Ratings, the Bulldogs have played the 12th most challenging schedule in the NAIA so far. The profile for Concordia includes victories over No. 6 Wayland Baptist University (Texas), No. 13 Northwestern and No. 17 Dakota State University (S.D.), using the current rankings.
· About the only thing to knit pick from last week was the slow start in the opening quarter at Mount Marty (led 14-13). However, the Bulldogs quickly ramped up their play and had scoring advantages of 27-14 in the second quarter and 25-10 in the third quarter. After having sat out the New Year’s Day matchup with Doane, star guard Taysha Rushton returned to the lineup and piled up 27 points while shooting 7-for-14 from the floor (4-for-6 from 3-point range) and 9-for-11 from the foul line. Off the bench, Kayla Luebbe (13) and Kendal Brigham (10) both reached double figures in the scoring department. Concordia shot 48.3 percent (29-for-60) from the floor and 78.3 percent (18-for-23) from the free throw line.
· The Bulldogs were razor sharp while blowing out Dakota Wesleyan inside Friedrich Arena. Concordia shot 50.7 percent (35-for-69) from the floor and outrebounded the Tigers, 45-39. DWU had entered the weekend leading the GPAC in rebound margin. The Bulldogs also stifled DWU with their zone defense, which limited the Tigers to 29.4 percent (20-for-68) shooting. Leading the way, Mackenzie Toomey achieved a career high 19 points while adding five rebounds and two steals. Rushton backed her up with 18 points while Luebbe had another productive day – 11 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Brigham also added nine points.
· Rushton is on a fast track in terms of joining the program’s 1,000-point club. She’s already piled up 708 points over her first 47 career collegiate games. The Midland, Texas, native has boosted her scoring average from 14.4 points per game last season to 16.4 this season. Last week was an encouraging sign as she made 15-of-28 shots from the floor in an efficient couple of outings. Rushton is also contributing 2.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. She was named First Team All-GPAC last season along with Taylor Cockerill, who happened to eclipse 1,500 career points last week as she plays her final collegiate season at NCAA Division II St. Edwards University of Austin, Texas.
· For the most part, the starting five has been consistent throughout this season. However, a tweak was made last week when Sadie Powell started for the first time in her career as part of the win over Dakota Wesleyan. Powell had a lot to do with Concordia avoiding the upset against Doane (76-70 OT win). Powell finished that contest with career highs for points (21) and rebounds (10). Rylee Pauli has started all 17 games while Bailey Conrad, Abby Heemstra and Rushton have each made 16 starts. Toomey started seven games and has been an essential player off the bench when not starting. Toomey is averaging 4.0 rebounds and 2.18 steals per game.
· The Bulldogs are going to be an extreme pain to try to beat when they shoot like they did last week – north of 48 percent in both outings. It was a return to form after Concordia shot 35.1 percent against Campbellsville, 36.2 percent against Thomas More and 37.7 percent against Doane. The Bulldogs rank as a solid 3-point shooting team nationally, currently checking in at 20th in 3-point field goals per game (8.6) and 49th in 3-point field goal percentage (.329). Rushton is the team’s clear go-to scorer, but there is plenty of balance after that. Every Bulldog in the main 10-player rotation averages at least 5.4 points per game. Seven Concordia players have knocked down at least 10 treys this season.
· The Bulldogs will be at home on Wednesday to host College of Saint Mary (10-6, 4-6 GPAC) at 7 p.m. CT. Concordia will then look forward to the long trek to Jamestown (11-7, 4-6 GPAC) for 2 p.m. contest in North Dakota on Saturday. This will be the first meeting this season with CSM while the Bulldogs aim for a season sweep of the Jimmies. It took a buzzer beater from Rushton for Concordia to edge Jamestown, 69-67, at home on Nov. 23. The Bulldogs own lengthy series win streaks over both of this week’s opponents – 18 versus CSM and 13 versus Jamestown.
Men’s Basketball
· There was only a slight break for Christmas as the Bulldogs kept humming in the timeframe between semesters. Just before New Year’s, Concordia won a shootout at Ottawa University (Kan.), 91-82, and returned to GPAC play on New Year’s Day with a 60-50 home win over Doane. In last week’s action, the Bulldogs stumbled at Mount Marty, 70-67, in overtime before bouncing back with an 88-71 home victory over Dakota Wesleyan. With most teams in the league at about the halfway point of the GPAC regular season slate, Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad remains in the thick of things near the top of the standings at 8-3 in the GPAC (15-4 overall). For more information on Concordia Men’s Basketball, click HERE.
· Back on Dec. 15, the Bulldogs cracked the NAIA coaches’ top 25 poll, landing at No. 23. It marked the first time the program appeared in the top 25 since the 2010-11 season. A new poll will be released on Wednesday. Concordia has gone 4-2 since the release of the most recent coaches’ poll. The loss at Mount Marty could affect the Bulldogs’ standing, but they have a strong case to remain in the top 25 with their overall body of work. Concordia’s most significant win was the 92-76 triumph over then 10th-ranked Jamestown on Nov. 23. The first three defeats of this season were each against quality opponents: at Briar Cliff, at Morningside and versus No. 8 William Jessup University (Calif.).
· The Bulldogs did not pass the test in Yankton despite getting a career high 35 points from Carter Kent. The Crete High School product went 10-for-20 from the floor (4-for-7 from 3-point range) and 11-for-12 from the foul line. The team’s next leading scorer was Sam Scarpelli, who notched eight points off the bench. On the other end, Concordia had a tough time dealing with the duo of Tyrell Harper (25 points, eight rebounds, seven blocks) and Elijah Pappas (19 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists). The Lancers had entered the game at 0-9 in the GPAC
· Both Doane and Mount Marty managed to slow down the transition game of the Bulldogs. They looked more like themselves against Dakota Wesleyan. Concordia shot 56.7 percent from the floor and forced 18 Tiger turnovers. The Bulldogs slammed the door shut with an 11-0 run that pushed the lead to 85-64 in the latter stages of the game. That spurt featured a series of Noah Schutte steals and Concordia layups/dunks on runouts. Four Bulldogs reached double figures: Kent (19), Gage Smith (16), Schutte (15) and AJ Watson (10).
· Kent has moved to No. 10 on the program’s all-time scoring list as he’s pushed his career point total to 1,471. Kent recently moved past the likes of Scott Ernstmeyer (1,417) and Scott Beck (1,406) on the list. Kent figures to soon pass up Ben Buhr (1,479) and become the ninth player in program history to reach 1,500 career points. Among Bulldogs who have played under Coach Limback, Kent ranks third in scoring behind Chandler Folkerts (1,963) and Tanner Shuck (1,579). By any measure, Kent is enjoying his best season. He’s currently averaging 17.2 points while sporting shooting percentages of 46.1 from the field, 37.4 from 3-point range and 86.8 from the foul line. He also contributes 3.9 rebounds, 3.52 assists and 1.32 steals per game.
· The Bulldogs are a perfect 9-0 at home this season with eight of those victories coming by double-digit margins. The overall program home win streak has moved to 13 while Concordia has also won 25 of its last 26 home contests. With the exception of Morningside, every other team in the GPAC has dropped its most recent trip to Seward. The biggest threat to the Bulldogs’ home success this season was the 91-90 win over Peru State College that came down to a Ryan Holt game-winning trey at the buzzer.
· Concordia is more than halfway through its league schedule and remains one of the frontrunners for the GPAC regular season title. There are plenty of others still in the running. Briar Cliff leads the GPAC standings at 7-2. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (8-3 GPAC) are one of four GPAC squads with three conference defeats. The others are Jamestown, Morningside and Northwestern – each of which stand at 6-3. The 2020-21 Concordia team equaled a school record for conference wins in a season (14) and placed in a tie for third place.
· The Bulldogs have a chance to rest up with a bye in the middle of this week. The focus is on Saturday’s trip to Jamestown, N.D., for a 3:45 p.m. CT tipoff with the 12th-ranked Jimmies (16-3, 6-3 GPAC). The two sides met inside Friedrich Arena on Nov. 23 with the result being a 92-76 Concordia win. Last season in Jamestown, the Bulldogs let a late lead slip away and dropped an 89-87 overtime decision. The Jimmies went 1-1 this past weekend with a loss coming at Northwestern.
Wrestling
· A stretch of three weeks between outings ended this past weekend as a group of 14 Bulldogs competed at the Hastings Open on Jan. 8. Concordia had been idle since winning two of three duals at the Concordia Bulldog Duals on Dec. 18. The Hastings Open marked the sixth tournament this season for Head Coach Myron Bradbury’s squad, which sports an overall dual record of 4-3 (2-2 GPAC). As part of the Bulldog Duals, Concordia earned wins over Oklahoma Wesleyan University, 31-13, and Central Baptist College (Ark.), 58-0. For more information on Concordia Wrestling, click HERE.
· The most recent conference and NAIA national rankings were released on Dec. 30. As a team, the Bulldogs were ranked fourth in the GPAC on the strength of seven individual wrestlers ranked at the conference level. Those competitors are Thomas Ivey (fifth at 125), Mario Ybarra (second at 133), Issiah Burks (sixth at 165), TJ Huber (fourth at 174), Jovon Howe (fifth at 184), Mason Garcia (sixth at 197) and Jacob Telles (third at 285). Ybarra is the lone Concordia grappler to appear in the national rankings. He landed at No. 13 in the NAIA at 133. Telles had been ranked as the No. 20 heavyweight in the NAIA back on Dec. 16.
· The Bulldog Duals featured five teams and a total of eight duals. The Bulldogs picked up the aforementioned wins over Oklahoma Wesleyan and Central Baptist while falling at the hands of No. 15 Marian University (Ind.). Among visiting teams at the event, Doane went 2-0, Marian went 3-1, Oklahoma Wesleyan went 1-2 and Central Baptist went 0-4. Individually, Burks, Telles and Ybarra each produced 3-0 records on the day. Burks was particularly dominant in claiming two pins and one victory via technical fall.
· Concordia wrestlers combined for 13 wins, including three via fall at the Hastings Open. Most notably, Jeaven Scdoris placed fourth at 149 pounds and Burks reached the semifinals at 165. Scdoris (4-2), TJ Huber (3-2 at 174) and Burks (2-2) led the way for the Bulldogs in terms of matches won on Saturday. In the 165-pound bracket, Burks won by major decision, 10-1, over Avila University (Mo.)’s Blake Becker and by decision over Pratt Community College’s Scott Radke, 8-2. With a chance at advancing to the final, Burks was pinned by Northwestern’s Blake Pomajzl, the GPAC’s fourth-ranked 165-pounder.
· As part of his run at the Hastings Open, Scdoris earned a pin of NCAA Division II Augustana University (S.D.)’s Kenneth Lenger. The Milford High School product picked up two contested wins, including one over Trey Fischbach of Dickinson State University (N.D.). Meanwhile, Huber collected a pin of Dickinson State’s Lance Kettering. One win apiece was credited to Tracy Allen (149), Tavoris Smith (157), Jovon Howe (184) and Jack Hedke (285). Hedke’s victory came via fall over Avila’s Andrew Burnett. In sum, seven Bulldogs generated at least one win at the Hastings Open.
· On the season, the following Concordia wrestlers have claimed at least 10 wins: Thomas Ivey (14-4), Jacob Telles (14-4), Mason Garcia (13-5) and Tavoris Smith (13-12). The Bulldogs have been careful in terms of the load they have put on Ybarra, who carries a record of 8-2. The 2021 All-American has wrestled in just one tournament this season. He placed second in the 133-pound bracket at the open hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney. At some point, Ybarra will have a chance to avenge the 3-1 loss he suffered against Morningside’s Taylor Vasquez in a dual. From a pins standpoint, Telles and Garcia lead the way with eight and seven pins, respectively.
· The lone outing this week will come with a major challenge as the Bulldogs prepare to take on No. 4 Doane in Crete at 7 p.m. CT on Friday. Former Concordia Head Coach Dana Vote’s squad is coming off a third-place finish at the National Duals and is the defending GPAC regular season champion. In last season’s meeting that took place in Jamestown, N.D., the Tigers defeated the Bulldogs, 36-3. Concordia’s most recent GPAC dual resulted in a 32-18 win over Midland.
Track & Field
· For the third season in a row, the Bulldogs got the indoor campaign started prior to Christmas break. The program welcomed athletes from nine opposing institutions during the two-day Concordia Early Bird Meet (Dec. 10-11) held inside the Fieldhouse. The yields for the Bulldogs included eight automatic national qualifying marks, three ‘B’ standard marks, 12 event championships and one of the nation’s top pentathlon point totals. Head Coach Matt Beisel’s squads took the Christmas break off from competition and are ramping things back up in earnest this week. For more information on Concordia Track & Field, click HERE.
· Below is a list of the Bulldogs who achieved marks at the Early Bird that were reported to the national leaderboard. It should be noted that several times were converted for the national performance list.
o Women’s 4x400m relay – A (3:53.73)
o Andy Amos – A, weight throw (57’ 10 ¼”)
o Olivia Buschow – B, weight throw (52’ 10 ¾”)
o Amira Cummings – A, pole vault (11’ 6 ½”)
o Morgan De Jong – A, weight throw (55’ 5”)
o Sarah Lewis – A, 400 meters (57.34); A, 60 hurdles (8.87)
o Wyatt Loga – B, high jump (6’ 7”)
o Josie Puelz – A, pole vault (13’ 2 ¼”)
o Amy Richert – No. 4 in NAIA in pentathlon (3,407)
o Calvin Rohde – B, 3,000 meters (8:38.77)
o Chris Wren – A, weight throw (61’ 8 ½”)
· For a detailed review of the Concordia Early Bird, check out the meet recap HERE. As a result of her efforts at the Early Bird, Sarah Lewis was named the GPAC Track Athlete of the Week on Dec. 15. The stretch without a meet will end this weekend with most Bulldogs headed to the Scott Nisely Memorial Classic hosted by Doane on Saturday. Select Concordia athletes will also take part in the University of Nebraska Graduate Classic held at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb., this Friday and Saturday.