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GPAC era Concordia teams that changed the game

By Jacob Knabel on Jul. 8, 2021 in Athletic Announcements

Throughout the history of Concordia Athletics, a number of teams have proven to be true game changers. In other words, these particular teams have accomplished achievements that had previously never been attained in their programs’ respective histories. For this historical piece, we looked at Concordia teams during the GPAC era (2000-present) that left a mark that has been long lasting – or will be.

Criteria considered for inclusion on the list below included:

·        Ground-breaking national success.

·        Whether that team’s season raised the profile of the program.

·        Conference championships earned (and if the conference title ended a drought for the program or was a new achievement for the program).

·        Note – no single sport program was allowed to have more than one team on the list.

Concordia Game Changers (GPAC era)

2001 Football

As the 2001 season kicked off, the football program had gone 20 seasons since its most recent conference championship. That drought ended in the fall of ’01 with a campaign that is arguably the best in the program’s history. Head Coach Courtney Meyer led the Bulldogs to a still-intact school record of 10 wins. Concordia shared the GPAC regular season title and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NAIA playoffs. The run included a first round home playoff win over St. Ambrose. The team’s No. 7 final national ranking represents the highest NAIA rating in program history. First team All-GPAC honors went to Jess Boyd (kicker), Erik DeHaven (linebacker), Sean Stewart (safety) and Ross Wurdeman (tight end). This team remains the standard that current Bulldog Football editions are aiming for.

2002-03 Women’s Basketball

Seven Concordia Women’s Basketball teams have reached the semifinals of the national tournament, so there were plenty of choices here. A case could most certainly made for selecting the 2018-19 squad that won the national title, but the Bulldogs had clearly already established themselves as an elite program many years earlier. The 2002-03 squad coached by Todd Voss did just about everything but win a national title as the program’s first team to ever reach the national semifinals. The ’02-03 won its first 33 games and was a unanimous No. 1-ranked squad in the NAIA coaches’ poll. Concordia went 16-0 in GPAC play while led by All-Americans Sarah Harrison and Elizabeth Rhoden. From this point forward, the idea of winning a national championship was a realistic one. A game changer of a coach, Drew Olson made sure the job got finished in March of 2019. Olson’s teams have made five trips to the national semifinals, including three title game appearances.

2004 Women’s Cross Country

This nod could have easily gone to 2002 Concordia Women’s Cross Country, but the ’04 team did something incredibly unique by earning each of the top six place finishes at the GPAC Championships. Consider the fact that the Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in the final NAIA regular-season coaches’ poll and placed as the NAIA national runner up and this particular team could be argued as the best cross country group that the legendary Kregg Einspahr ever coached. Seven Bulldogs earned all-conference awards while Molly Engel and Jacquelyn Dibbern raced to All-America status. This was the first cross country team inducted into the Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame.

2004-05 Men’s Basketball

The teams of the early 1990s helped put Concordia Men’s Basketball on the map. The good times rolled on into the mid-2000s when the Bulldogs reached the national championship game for the first time ever. Despite low expectations outside the program, Concordia went 32-6 overall and captured the GPAC tournament title. As part of the national tournament run, the Bulldogs defeated Trinity Christian, Flagler, Cornerstone and Cedarville. Head Coach Grant Schmidt’s squad was paced by three standouts that averaged double figures in scoring: Jon Ziegler (15.2), Jason Jisa (13.9) and Scott Beck (13.4). A major factor in the post, Marcus Warneke blocked 109 shots in ’04-05. It took Walsh (Ohio) and an NBA draft pick to take down Concordia in the national championship game.

2005 Softball

This team received induction into the Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 and continues to own the program record for wins in a single season with 36. Head Coach Frank Greene led the ’05 team to a GPAC regular season title with a 20-4 league mark. Eleven Bulldogs earned all-conference accolades, including first teamers Judy Alswager and Rebecca Shaffer. Pitching and defense were a particular strength for this team. Under a different format at the time, Concordia did not reach the national tournament, although it did qualify for the NAIA Region IV tournament.

2009 Men’s Cross Country

Concordia Cross Country still seeks its first team national championship, but the 2009 men’s team was another that landed at No. 2 in the NAIA when the dust settled. Both Dana Schmidt and Zach Meineke collected All-America honors for Head Coach Kregg Einspahr’s ’09 team, which also won the GPAC title. As the GPAC individual champion, Meineke led the way for a Bulldog squad that had seven All-GPAC performers (top 15 finishers at the conference meet). In terms of national placement, this team is the standard for men’s cross country.

2014 Women’s Soccer

A relatively young program, women’s soccer officially got started in 1996 at Concordia. There had been solid teams previously, but the 2014 squad broke through with a season that laid a foundation for the success that carries on to this day. Greg Henson took a group of underdogs and melded it into a championship team in ’14. The Bulldogs slayed conference goliath Hastings (not once, but twice that season) in the GPAC tournament final. It was a watershed moment that has led into GPAC titles in 2016, 2017 and 2020. First team all-conference honors in 2014 went to Rachel Mussell, Melissa Stine and Jessica Skerston.

2014-15 Wrestling

The wrestling program had ceased operations after the 1977-78 season – until it was reborn in 2009-10. The Bulldogs really became a major player under Head Coach Dana Vote, who helped lift the program to a GPAC championship level in his third season. The 2014-15 team changed the game by going a perfect 7-0 in conference duals before winning the NAIA north qualifier postseason title. This squad began a run of five GPAC championship seasons in a six-year span. All-Americans in 2015 included Ken Burkhardt Jr., Kodie Cole, Ceron Francisco and Andrew Schulte.

2015 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field

To be sure, Concordia Track & Field had been a major conference and national player long before 2015. This was different though. The ’15 outdoor men’s team claimed the GPAC title and then surprised a whole lot of people when it went on to seize the NAIA national title, marking the first team national championship in Concordia’s history, for any sport. After many national runner-up finishes throughout his storied career, Kregg Einspahr had reached the top of the mountain. Individually, Cody Boellstorff won the hammer throw national title and Zach Lurz placed second in three separate events. In addition, Lucas Wiechman placed second in the decathlon and third in the pole vault.

2015 Men’s Soccer

The men’s soccer program has been a pillar of consistency under Head Coach Jason Weides. During an active run of 10-straight seasons with at least 10 wins, the mountaintop moment occurred on Nov. 12, 2015, when Concordia celebrated a 1-0 upset of 19th-ranked Hastings in the GPAC tournament final. That thrilling victory capped a magical GPAC postseason run that saw the Bulldogs advance past each of the league’s top three seeds with each contest occurring on the opponents’ home turf. Earlier in the season, Concordia had stood at 1-3-1 in GPAC play. Second team All-GPAC honors went to Julian Amaya, Justin Lawrie and Lewis Rathbone.

2016 Women’s Outdoor Track & Field

For the second year in a row, Concordia Track & Field celebrated an NAIA outdoor national title in Gulf Shores, Ala. This time it was the women’s turn. The Bulldogs accumulated 71 points while out-gunning runner up Indiana Tech. Eight Concordia athletes earned All-America honors with the headliner being javelin national champion Liz King. In addition, Kali Robb placed as the shot put runner up and Tricia Svoboda was the runner up in the discus. Meanwhile, Stephanie Coley placed either third or fourth in three separate events. Coach Kregg Einspahr went out on top in his final meet leading the program. Prior to 2016, the program’s top NAIA outdoor finish had been fifth.

2019 Volleyball

The 1981 and 1995 Concordia Volleyball teams reside in the school’s Hall of Fame, but no Bulldog volleyball squad had made a national splash like the 2019 edition. Then in his second season as head coach, Ben Boldt made believers out of his student-athletes. Concordia was picked eighth in the GPAC preseason poll and then far surpassed that prognostication by placing third in the conference and by reaching the NAIA national tournament round of 16. The 2020 team took it a step farther by advancing to the national quarterfinals, but the ’19 squad laid the groundwork for that to happen. The 2019 Bulldogs finished at 25-8 overall and were ranked 14th in the NAIA postseason poll. Emmie Noyd was named an NAIA third team All-American.

2021 Baseball

This one is still fresh. Sure, this honor could have gone to either the 2017 or 2019 teams that won GPAC titles, but the 2021 squad did something truly remarkable in advancing all the way to the NAIA World Series (only the second GPAC team to ever do so). It’s no small task for a baseball school in the north. As part of the breakthrough campaign, Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad set new program standards with 42 wins and with a postseason national ranking of No. 12. No other Bulldog Baseball team had ever cracked the NAIA’s official top 25. Concordia employed a powerful lineup that slugged a school record 90 home runs and boasted GPAC Pitcher of the Year Jake Fosgett. Freshman Joey Grabanski broke school single-season records for home runs, RBIs and total bases.