In 2015, Concordia University athletics “stole the show.” The calendar year of 2015 brought the school’s first-ever team national title, a national runner-up finish, five conference championships and a GPAC all-sports trophy. In addition, two Bulldog teams advanced to national tournaments for the first time in their programs’ histories.
More rewarding and everlasting than the tangible hardware are the memories that 2015 brought. CJ Muller referred to winning the outdoor track and field national title as a “surreal” experience. In response to capturing the GPAC men’s soccer conference tournament championship, Mark Cambpell wrote, “To be able to celebrate with my brothers was the happiest moment I’ve ever had in my life.” Said Tiegen Skains of the national tournament qualifying volleyball team, “It’s really cool to know you’re part of something like that, that’s this big.”
In 2015, Concordia athletic teams rallied together like never before. So thrilling was the March run made by national player of the year Bailey Morris and the women’s basketball program that students, fans and alums were compelled to fill the Tyson Events Center to the rafters in creating a spectacle uncommon to the NAIA and small college athletics. The Concordia community galvanized from near to far in support of something that transcended the 92 feet of hardwood.
“It is more than just us. It’s more than just a basketball game,” said head coach Drew Olson prior to the title game with Morningside. “It’s about our community and Bulldog nation. There’s a lot of pride (for me), especially being a graduate of Concordia. So many people contacted me throughout the tournament. This is why you come to Concordia.”
Just over two months later Muller and the men’s track and field squad celebrated a national title that seemingly came out of nowhere. The Bulldogs reacted by tossing head coach Kregg Einspahr and other members of the coaching staff into the steeplechase pit. The celebratory dunkings followed a joyous scene in which Einspahr and his fellow coaches bear-hugged while still in shock and disbelief. Said Einspahr, “It’s a dream come true for myself, our coaches and our athletes.”
If anything, 2015 proved that dreams can come true and that coaches and athletes within a single institution can feed off the success of one another. There is no limit to what Concordia athletes and teams can achieve. Starting with the women’s soccer GPAC tournament championship in 2014, Bulldog athletics began a game of ‘can-you-top-this.’ Said Lucas Wiechman, a member of the national champion track and field team, “There’s a lot of excitement. It’s really impacted the motivation for all the other sports at Concordia. It’s been a domino effect.”
A national champion thrower in the javelin, current senior Liz King may have said it best when calling the phenomenon a “school-wide momentum.” Marcie Sindt, a member of the 2014 GPAC tournament titlist women’s soccer team, went to Twitter to term the 2014-15 academic campaign the “Year of the Dawg.”
Are we in the midst of Year of the Dawg Part II? The story of 2015-16 is far from complete, but this past fall we witnessed an unprecedented stretch in which Bulldog teams competed in GPAC championship games three days in a row. During that period, women’s soccer took part in the GPAC title match for the second-straight year and men’s soccer and volleyball reached the conference championship for the first time in program history.
We’ll let King explain the ridiculous level of achievement. “Honestly, I think it’s been a school-wide momentum,” says King. “The amount of success we’ve had this fall has just been incredible. We’ve shown that we can do this. Our school is good enough. We are athletic enough. I think everyone has fed off of that. I would even go back to girl’s basketball last year. They kept going. Every year and every sport’s season it’s like they’re carrying this momentum of Concordia. It’s awesome to see. I think we’re pushing off of their momentum. It’s not like we’re outdoing each other but it’s pushing each sport to be better and better. It’s really cool to see.”
The wave of success has hit so hard that no one wanted to be left behind. Said running back Bryce Collins prior to the start of the 2015 football season, “Everybody else had been making noise for Concordia. Football just seems like the last thing people were thinking about. That’s a big motivator for me. I talked to a couple other guys and they thought the exact same thing. We need to contribute to the success of Concordia as a whole.”
It’s this mindset that allowed Bulldog athletics to steal the show in 2015. Here’s to even better in 2016.