Bulldog Weekly Report (March 28)

By Jacob Knabel on Mar. 28, 2017 in Athletic Announcements

Bulldog Athletic Association Athletes of the Week

Male: Cody Boellstorff, Track & Field

Boellstorff, a native of Waverly, Neb., took a familiar perch atop the national leaderboard in the hammer throw with his toss of 205’ 7” at last week’s Wildcat Classic hosted by Wayne State. That mark is just shy of a personal best for Boellstorff, a 2015 national champion in the hammer throw. He won a national title in the weight throw this past indoor season.

Female: Michaela Woodward, Softball

Woodward, who hails from Cortland, Neb., collected GPAC pitcher of the week accolades after helping Concordia to an active six-game win streak. During the six-game win streak, she has thrown 19 innings, allowing only six earned runs on 21 hits and four walks while collecting three wins. Over that same stretch, she has gone 8-for-20 (.400) with a pair of home runs at the plate.

Bulldogs climb to No. 14 in Learfield Directors’ Cup Standings: On the strength of four top 15 national finishes from winter sports teams, Concordia vaulted to No. 14 in the latest NAIA Learfield Directors’ Cup Standings. The standings measure all NAIA schools based upon national success from varsity athletic teams. The Bulldogs are aiming to finish inside the top 20 for the third year in a row.

Women’s basketball ranked third in postseason poll: Following an appearance in the national semifinals for the fifth time in school history, the Concordia women’s basketball team garnered a No. 3 ranking in the NAIA coaches’ poll released last week. Head coach Drew Olson’s program is the only one in NAIA Division II with three national semifinal advancements in the last six years. This also marks the sixth time that an Olson team has achieved a top 10 final ranking.

Spring football underway: The first football practice of the spring took place early Monday morning. It’s a new era for the program, which is now led by first-year head coach Patrick Daberkow, who served as defensive coordinator for seven seasons. The Bulldogs are coming off a 7-3 season that culminated with a No. 19 final ranking in 2016. For a spring look at Concordia, click HERE.

Find Bulldog gear at BulldogFanShop.com: BulldogFanShop.com is the official marketplace for Concordia Bulldogs athletic gear. For sale are many types of clothing apparel as well as drinkware, decals, collectibles and other accessories.

How to purchase Cultivating Men of Faith and Character: The book, Cultivating Men of Faith and Character: The History of Concordia Nebraska Football, remains available for purchase online HERE. For more than 90 years, the Concordia football program has cultivated men of faith and character. This journey through the program’s entire history takes a narrative, coach-by-coach approach in bringing back to life the memorable plays, players and moments in Bulldog football history. Win or lose, Christian character has guided a storied football tradition in Seward, home to the “college in the cornfield.”

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 6 p.m. CT: The Bulldog Coaches Show is in its second year of existence. The show airs live for a half hour every Thursday beginning at 6 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 TuneIn Radio app and searching “Max Country.” Throughout the 2016-17 season, Bulldog football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball contests will be aired live on Max Country.

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.

Track & Field

  • The outdoor season got underway over the weekend at the Wildcat Classic hosted by Wayne State College. The Bulldogs, coming off two top-10 national finishes for indoor (men runner up), posted a total of eight automatic national qualifying marks at the season-opening meet. Chilly and misty conditions greatly affected runners on the track. Meanwhile, it was a solid overall two days in the throws.
  • Allie Brooks continues to make big waves during her sophomore season. The Seward High School product now owns school records in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault. At Wayne State, Brooks cleared 12’ 8 ¾,” (No. 1 in the NAIA) surpassing the previous outdoor school standard of 12’ 6 ¼” held by Cassie Starks, a 2015 graduate. Brooks’ previous personal best outdoor mark had been 11’ 11 ¾.” At the 2017 GPAC indoor championships, Brooks won the pole vault title, giving the Concordia women’s pole vault program six-straight GPAC titles.
  • Sophomore McKenzie Gravo contributed to that string of championships by sweeping 2016 indoor and outdoor GPAC titles. In order to preserve eligibility for future years, Gravo competed unattached during the 2017 indoor season. In her first meet of 2017 as a Bulldog competitor, Gravo cleared 11’ 5 ¾,” putting her just shy of the automatic national qualifying mark. The Henderson, Nev., native collected All-America honors last season.
  • Senior Cody Boellstorff will pursue his second career national title in the hammer throw. He now leads the NAIA in the event after his first-place toss of 205’ 7” at Wayne State. That mark puts him just shy of his all-time personal best. The native of Waverly, Neb., will also aim to regain the school’s hammer throw record which is currently held by 2016 graduate Josh Slechta (210’ 10”). Boellstorff (205’ 8”) is second on the hammer throw list and teammate Zach Lurz (198’ 3”) ranks fourth.
  • Throwers have accounted for seven of Concordia’s nine automatic national qualifying marks. Kali Robb has qualified in both the shot put and the discus and is expected to do the same in the hammer throw at coming events. On the early national lists, Bulldogs own No. 1 rankings in the women’s discus (Tricia Svoboda), men’s hammer (Boellstorff) and women’s hammer (Sydney Meyer).
  • Before the outdoor season truly began, sophomore Taylor Grove already possessed an automatic national qualifying time. She competed at the Midland Half Marathon back on Dec. 3 and finished in 1:29:28, locking up a trip to nationals in late May. Grove, who placed second in the 10,000 meters at the Wildcat Classic, will be making her first career appearance at a national championship meet.
  • Grove was one of four Bulldogs to place in the top two of events on the track at Wayne State. CJ Muller bested the field of 21 runners in the 800 meter race, clocking a personal best of 1:55.52. In addition to Grove’s runner up finish in the 10,000, Evan Asche (10,000 meters) and Alayna Daberkow (400 meter hurdles) also turned in second-place times.
  • Concordia’s national qualifying list includes five ‘B’ standard qualifying marks in addition to the nine automatic marks achieved in 2017.
    • Cody Boellstorff – hammer throw (A, 205’ 7”)
    • Allie Brooks – pole vault (A, 12’ 8 ¾”)
    • Jacob Cornelio – hammer throw (B, 169’ 1”)
    • McKenzie Gravo – pole vault (B, 11’ 5 ¾”)
    • Taylor Grove – half marathon (A, 1:29:28)
    • Philip Kreutzer – hammer throw (B, 169’ 9”)
    • Samantha Liermann – shot put (A, 44’ 5 ¼”)
    • Sydney Meyer – hammer throw (A, 172’ 9”)
    • Amy Migl – discus (B, 139’ 4”)
    • Kali Robb – shot put (A, 44’ 8 ¼”); discus (A, 143’ 8”)
    • Adrianna Shaw – shot put (A, 44’ 8 ¼”)
    • Carley Skorepa – discus (B, 139’ 7”)
    • Tricia Svoboda – discus (A, 152’ 1”)
  • The outdoor season carries on this Saturday with a trip to Hastings for the Bronco Open. The action is scheduled to get started at 10 a.m. CT. The Bulldogs will put on their first home meet of the outdoor season on April 8 when the annual Concordia Outdoor Invite takes place in and around Bulldog Stadium.

Baseball

  • After a long awaited opening of the conference season, the Bulldogs began GPAC play at Plum Creek Park on Monday afternoon. Visiting Northwestern spoiled the occasion by sweeping the doubleheader by scores of 4-1 and 12-5. Also early last week, Concordia dropped a pair of nonconference games at Friends University (Kan.). Fourth-year head coach Ryan Dupic’s squad now stands at 11-11 overall and at 0-2 in the conference. For more information on the Bulldog baseball program, click HERE.
  • Concordia has hopes for what it can accomplish inside the conference this season despite the two defeats on Monday. The Bulldogs were picked third in the GPAC preseason coaches’ poll and moved up to No. 2 in the official conference rating that was released on March 20. Last season Concordia tied for fourth in the GPAC, marking the program’s highest-ever GPAC finish. The most recent conference title came for Bulldog baseball came in 1986 when Randy Baack helped the team to a NIAC championship.
  • Senior lefty Josh Prater has easily been the Concordia’s most consistent starting pitcher. Through five starts, Prater has not allowed more than three earned runs in any one outing. On Monday, Prater went six innings against the Red Raiders, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks. He also struck out seven. Though not an overpowering pitcher, Prater has a solid strikeout rate of 7.3 per nine innings. He owns a record of 2-2 and an ERA of 2.35 over 30.2 innings in 2017.
  • Northwestern exploded for 12 runs on 12 hits in game 2 and has leapfrogged the Bulldogs for the No. 1 spot in the GPAC in terms of runs scored per game (8.1). Concordia’s own lethal offense was held to four hits in the game 1 loss. Still, the Bulldogs rank second in the conference in runs per game (7.5). They also rank second in slugging percentage (.478) and third in batting average (.300).
  • Concordia got almost all of its offensive production on Monday out of the top four hitters in the lineup: Casey Berg, Christian Montero, Kaleb Geiger and Jason Galeano. They combined to go 10-for-27 with six runs and five RBIs in the twin bill. Geiger produced a 3-for-8 day that included a pair of RBI doubles. Out of the No. 4 spot, Jason Galeano went 3-for-7 with two runs driven in. Casey Berg reached base three of four plate appearances in the capper and scored three times.
  • If using Major League Baseball qualifications (must average 3.1 plate appearances for team games played), Jake Adams (.352) and Berg (.338) are the team’s leading hitters among regulars. Next in line come Galeano (.297) and Montero (.293). Berg and Geiger share the team lead with four home runs apiece. Adams owns team highs for on-base percentage (.513) and slugging (.574). Geiger’s 21 RBIs pace the Bulldogs.
  • The starting rotation has been made up mostly of Prater, Nick Little (five starts), Jason Munsch (four starts) and Neil Ryan (four starts). Other than Prater, the most reliable from a statistical standpoint has been Munsch, who is 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings. He’s flashed good stuff, striking out 20 so far in his freshman season. Ryan also provided an encouraging outing last week at Friends, going 5.2 innings in which he allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks. He struck out three hitters.
  • The longest hitting streak put forth by a Bulldog so far this season was a 14-game string by Montero. The longest active streak is a five-gamer for Geiger. Montero has another current streak of four-straight games with a hit. Berg recently had a run of 14-straight games in which he reached base.
  • This week’s slate includes three GPAC road doubleheaders: today (March 28) at 5 p.m. CT at Midland (19-7, 1-1 GPAC), Saturday at 1 p.m. at Mount Marty (8-12, 2-0 GPAC) and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Morningside (18-10, 3-1 GPAC). The Warriors were last season’s conference regular-season champ and the Mustangs captured the GPAC tournament title.

Softball

  • The Bulldogs have gotten on a roll since opening conference play with a pair of losses to Northwestern on March 18. Over the past week, Concordia rattled off six-straight wins, sweeping doubleheaders from Doane, Nebraska Wesleyan and Briar Cliff. The six-game win streak is the longest this season for fourth-year head coach Todd LaVelle’s squad, which now stands at 19-7 overall and at 4-2 in conference play. For more information on the Concordia softball program, click HERE.
  • An offensive surge has been the driving force behind the recent success for the Bulldogs. During the win streak, Concordia has averaged 8.3 runs and 11.0 hits per game. The uptick has pushed the Bulldogs up the conference rankings in a number of statistical categories. Among all GPAC teams, Concordia ranks second in batting average (.322), third in slugging percentage (.445), third in runs per game (6.0) and third in hits per game (9.0).
  • One of the ringleaders behind the offensive explosion has been senior Kylie Harpst. She burned Doane with eight RBIs in the doubleheader sweep that included a 10-0 run-rule victory. In last week’s action, Harpst went 8-for-18 (.444) with three doubles, one triple, one home run, 10 RBIs while slugging .889. Suddenly, Harpst is tied with Autumn Owens for the team lead in RBIs. On the year, Harpst is batting .316 with 24 RBIs. Of her 25 hits, 13 have gone for extra bases (eight doubles, four triples, one home run).
  • Freshman third baseman Ronee Watson has made a seamless transition to collegiate softball. She’s the team leader with a .411 batting average. She drove in seven runs while going 4-for-6 in Sunday’s twin bill sweep of Briar Cliff. Watson carries a nine-game hitting streak into this week’s action. Over those nine contests, Watson has gone 15-for-26 (.577) with 10 RBIs and three runs scored. Watson has started nine times at third base, five times at first and three times as a designated player.
  • Continuing the hitting theme, senior center fielder Megan Ruppert has also been on a tear. The native of McCook, Neb., has raised her average from .346 to .382 over the last seven games while settling into the No. 2 spot in the lineup. During her seven-game run, Ruppert has gone 11-for-24 (.458) with 11 runs and eight RBIs. Among regulars, Ruppert trails only Watson for the team batting average title.
  • Not surprisingly, Michaela Woodward led the way for the pitching staff last week. She fired a total of 19 innings over four appearances (three starts) and went 3-0 with a 2.21 ERA. She scattered 21 hits and four walks while striking out 13 hitters. In her career, Woodward is 39-24 with a 4.28 ERA and 272 strikeouts in 423.2 innings. Woodward is also a major threat with the bat. In the sweep of Nebraska Wesleyan, she delivered her fourth home run of the season, tying her with Owens for a team best.
  • Woodward is the ace of a pitching staff that has also gotten quality work from Kylie Harpst (6-1, 3.00 ERA), AJ Wygant (1-1, 2.40 ERA) and Delaney Nance (3-0, 2.26 ERA). Among all GPAC teams, Concordia ranks second in lowest opponent batting average (.215), third in ERA (2.73) and third in strikeouts (122). Bulldog pitchers have been backed by a solid defense that is No. 3 in the conference in fielding percentage (.949).
  • The Bulldogs appeared at the very end among “others receiving votes” in the NAIA coaches’ poll released last week. In the official GPAC ratings posted on NAIA.org, Concordia was ranked second behind league favorite Morningside. During LaVelle’s tenure, the Bulldogs have received votes on multiple occasions, but are still trying to crack the top 25 for the first time.
  • A slightly lighter week is coming up. Concordia will be at Hastings (15-15, 2-2 GPAC) for a 5 p.m. CT doubleheader on Wednesday. A few days later, the Bulldogs are scheduled to return home for a showdown with 10th-ranked Morningside (19-6, 1-1 GPAC). The Broncos and Mustangs split a doubleheader that was played on Sunday.

Golf

  • The spring golf season officially got underway on Monday with the women’s team making a trip north to Fremont for the Midland Spring Invite. Head coach Brett Muller’s squad shot a team score of 397 and tied for seventh place at the meet. The women’s team also ventured to Fort Myers, Fla., over spring break, allowing it to play the course at Fiddlesticks Country Club. Meanwhile, the men played in an unofficial event this past Saturday, competing in the Bulldog-Tiger Ryder Cup at York Country Club. For more information on the Concordia golf programs: MEN | WOMEN.
  • Not surprisingly, senior Amy Ahlers topped the Bulldogs at the Midland Spring Invite. She shot an eight-over-par 81 and placed third amongst the field of 54 golfers. Ahlers is in the stretch run of what has been an impressive career. In 35 events played as a collegiate golfer, the native of Albion, Neb., has 28 top 10 finishes, 19 top five claims and nine tournament wins. Her season average of 80.79 last season as a junior broke a school record. Ahlers will aim for her fourth-straight all-conference finish while competing in three GPAC rounds this spring.
  • Crete, Neb., native Murphy Sears could be in line to be the next Ahlers. The freshman carded an 88 on Monday and placed in a tie for sixth. She has earned top 10 finishes in three of five tournaments in her rookie season. Her season average of 85.88 ranks second on the team behind only Ahlers. Sears has recorded a career low of 83 in three of her eight rounds played in 2016-17. The four other Bulldogs at the meet were Payton DeMers-Sahling (101), Lauren Sperry (108), Madison Pitsch (120) and Paighton Barbre (124).
  • Both teams played just a single round of GPAC qualifier action in the fall due to rain that caused the postponement of the second round. On the women’s side, the Bulldogs sit in ninth place (386) out of 11 teams. Ahlers (83) and Sears (85) sit inside the top 10 and have positioned themselves for potential all-conference honors. Meanwhile, the men still have a shot at finishing atop the conference. They are in third place after carding a 300 at the first qualifier in the fall. Individually, both Tylar Samek (73, T-5th) and Reid Wiebe (74, T-8th) sit inside the top 10.
  • The women’s team will be back in action on Sunday and Monday for the two-round Bent Tree Intercollegiate at Bent Tree Golf Club in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The men will kick the spring into gear next week at the Midland Spring Invite (April 3-4) at Fremont Golf Club. Final GPAC rounds are scheduled for late April for both men and women.

Tennis

  • Both tennis squads have been idle since beginning spring break in the state of Kansas. That journey ended on March 7 with matches at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan. Third-year head coach Joel Reckewey’s squads own records of 5-7 on the men’s side and 4-8 on the women’s side. For more on the Concordia tennis programs: MEN | WOMEN.
  • The women have dominated during their still active three-match win streak, taking 23 of the 27 sets against the likes of Hesston College (Kan.), Friends University (Kan.) and Bethany. Junior Annie Horn has been a ringleader behind the team success. In singles play, she owns a personal win streak of five (four matches at No. 2 and one at No. 1). She has also teamed up with Kirsten Wagner for three-consecutive victories at No. 1 doubles. At 7-4 in singles, Horn tops the team in victories this season.
  • Junior Katie Hertz has enjoyed similar success of late. The native of Billings, Mont., has won four singles matches in a row – all at the No. 4 position. During that run, she has not dropped a single set and has relinquished just 13 games. Hertz has pushed her season record to 5-6. She is 5-3 at the No. 4 singles spot.
  • As a team, the women are 32-40 in singles action and 13-23 in doubles. In addition to team high win totals for Horn (7-4) and Hertz (5-6), four other Bulldogs have multiple singles victories: Kayla Smock (4-5), Wagner (3-6), Katelinn Wurm (3-7) and Angela Bell (2-0). Horn and Wagner have gone 4-6 in doubles play as the team’s winningest combo.
  • The Concordia men had beaten three institutions from the state of Kansas in a row before running into their first nationally-ranked opponent of the season (No. 24 Bethany). Collectively, the Bulldogs are 35-37 in singles play and 14-22 in doubles action. Gabe Poling paces the team with a 9-2 singles mark. Six of his victories have come at the No. 4 spot. Next on the list of wins leaders are Thomas Greeff (6-6), Lucas Zoller (6-6), Javier Moreno (5-3) and Josh Miller (4-4). Zoller has won his last two singles matches.
  • Both teams are in the middle of an extended break. The women will be at Nebraska Wesleyan on Wednesday. The men will take on the Prairie Wolves the next day in Lincoln. Both matches will be held at the Abbott Sports Complex in Lincoln and both are set for 4 p.m. CT first serves. Conference play will get started in April.