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Women’s track and field wins first-ever national title
Just a year after the Concordia men’s track and field captured it’s first-ever team national title, the women did the same over a three-day meet (May 26-28) in Gulf Shores, Ala. The Bulldogs totaled 71 points and held off a late push from runner up Indiana Tech (66 points) for the top spot. Individually, Liz King won the hammer throw national title and finished runner up in the javelin while Stephanie Coley and Kali Robb both earned All-America honors in three different throwing events. The meet capped the 24-year head coaching career of Kregg Einspahr at Concordia. Said Einspahr, “This is just a dream come true to be able to win another national championship. You always hope to be in that position someday.” Added senior Kim Wood, “I can’t believe it really happened. It’s really great to be part of a team that can do that. It’s just incredible to be able to go out on it.”
Three weeks earlier the Bulldogs placed second at the GPAC championships while earning two conference individual titles from both King and Wood. The Concordia women have now finished fifth or higher at three-straight national championship meets. For a complete recap of the national championship meet, click HERE.
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Lurz claims shot put national title, leads team runner-up finish
Behind Zach Lurz’s third career national title in the shot put, the 2015 outdoor national titlist Bulldog men placed runner up at the 2016 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. In the process of winning the title, Lurz broke his own school record in the shot put with a mark of 59’ 5 ¼.” Lurz added All-America honors in the hammer and discus as the Concordia men piled up 52 points and placed behind only national champion Indiana Tech. Josh Slechta (hammer) and Lucas Wiechman (decathlon) also recorded runner-up national finishes.
“I was really hungry to win it for outdoor,” Lurz said of his shot put trophy. “The last couple years have been pretty bittersweet for me. I put together a good series with four throws around 17.50 (meters) or higher. It was one of the best series of my life.”
Zikas ties for first at final two GPAC qualifiers
Freshman Nolan Zikas did not allow his battle with cancer to slow him down. He got stronger over the second semester and concluded his first collegiate season with tournament place finishes of first, third and first. The run began with Zikas coming back from four-over-par after three holes to card a 74 at GPAC Qualifier No. 3. Eight days later he turned in a career low 69 as part of a team record performance of 291. Then at GPAC No. 4, Zikas shot an even-par 70 and again found himself on top of the conference leaderboard.
It was an incredible run for the La Vista, Neb., native, who found out just two days after GPAC No. 3 that he would need to surgery to remove tumors from his lungs. Zikas underwent successful surgery on May 11. The night before he sent out an inspirational tweet that read, “The fight is not over, but when it is over I WILL BE THE VICTOR.” Zikas finished in a tie for eighth on the overall GPAC individual leaderboard and earned all-conference accolades.
Baseball makes GPAC tournament run, breaks school records
Head coach Ryan Dupic presided over a 2016 season that broke new ground for the Concordia baseball program. This spring’s squad advanced within one win of the GPAC championship game by knocking off Northwestern, 12-0, and Midland, 6-4, to begin conference tournament action. It was the first time in school history that Concordia has won multiple games at a single GPAC tournament. The Bulldogs muscled up with six postseason home runs, including a game-winning Jake Adams grand slam to sink top-seeded Midland. However, the GPAC regular-season champion Warriors eliminated Concordia the next day. The elimination game was a nailbiting 6-5 final in 11 innings.
“I told them how proud I was of them and how much I loved them for the way they finished and how hard they played at the end of the season,” Dupic said. “I saw a vision for what I want Concordia baseball to stand for, which is a group of guys that really compete and care about one another.”
The 2016 season saw Concordia break program records for wins (28), runs scored (395), hits (505), home runs (38), pitcher strikeouts (295) and highest GPAC regular-season finish (tie for fourth).
Pardos takes GPAC by storm
Freshman Willy Pardos emerged as one of the top performers among all Bulldog spring athletes. He went 12-6 overall as the Concordia men’s tennis No. 1 singles player. He dropped just one match against GPAC opponents and made a name for himself with an upset of Baker University’s (Kan.) fifth-ranked Spartak Rahachou in February. Twice this spring he was named the Bulldog Booster Club Athlete of the Week and garnered GPAC player of the week accolades on April 20.
Said head coach Joel Reckewey about Pardos, “One of the most exciting things about Willy is the way that he carries himself with his body language and demeanor on the court. He has very good sportsmanlike conduct. He’s a role model in his determination to do well. Willy really cares. I’m really excited for the success he’s had and the progress he’s made, but more than that I admire his ability to conduct himself as a tennis player.”
Softball goes on 10-game win streak
Head coach Todd LaVelle’s softball team got rolling in March by winning each of its first nine games of a 10-game spring break slate in Tucson, Ariz. During that 10-game swing, the powerful Bulldog offense averaged more than nine runs per game and won a 10-9 slugfest over eventual national tournament qualifier University of Great Falls, 10-9. Over two contests in Tucson on March 9, Concordia outscored Purdue University-North Central and then No. 25 University of Saint Francis by a combined total of 25-3. Behind slugging third baseman Autumn Owens, the 2016 Concordia team ranked 16th nationally in runs per game (6.4).
Women’s tennis wins five straight versus GPAC opponents
The Concordia women’s tennis team struggled to a 2-11 start in 2016, but recovered nicely down the stretch by winning five-straight matches over GPAC opponents. The young team spent a good part of the early season getting comfortable while head coach Joel Reckewey played with different lineup combinations. The Bulldogs settled in with freshman Hailey Lemos at No. 1 singles and sophomore Annie Horn at No. 2 singles. The teammates also paired at No. 1 doubles for a formidable tandem. With a clearer lineup, Concordia rattled off wins over Midland, Northwestern, Mount Marty and Hastings (twice).
“(A settled lineup) has made a huge difference,” said Horn prior to the GPAC tournament. “Now in practice we have our partner. We’re not switching around every practice with different people. We have someone we play with the whole time. The chemistry has built between all of us.”
SEASON SUMMARIES
Baseball
2016 record: 28-27 overall, 11-9 GPAC (T-4th)
Top performer: It’s difficult to choose just one between the middle-of-the-order combo of Kaleb Geiger and Christian Montero, both first team all-conference selections. Geiger improved immensely between his freshman and sophomore seasons, finishing 2016 with team highs in batting average (.347), runs (48), hits (58), RBIs (50), slugging percentage (.605) and on-base percentage (.448). Out of the cleanup spot, Montero put up similar numbers while equaling Geiger’s 50 RBIs. Montero led the Bulldogs in both home runs (9) and total bases (104). Geiger and Montero were primary reasons for the team’s school record tally of 395 runs.
Season highlights: There were numerous memorable moments, including the team’s 2-0 start to the GPAC tournament as part of the Midland Bracket. In the upset of top-seeded Midland, Jake Adams crushed two home runs, including the game-winning grand slam. During the regular-season, Concordia provided thrills with a combined no-hitter delivered by Ben Kruse and Josue Melchor and walk-off wins on consecutive days in the opening weekend of conference play. One of the lasting images of 2016 was the splashing near home plate of Johnny May, who pulverized a walk-off home run to beat Briar Cliff on April 3. In addition, Concordia eclipsed the program single-season wins record via a 12-0 trouncing of Northwestern to open postseason play. On the mound, lefty Josh Prater ended the season with a scoreless innings streak of 20.2.
GPAC all-conference: Kaleb Geiger (first team), Christian Montero (first team), Alex Alstott (honorable mention), Casey Berg (honorable mention), Mark Harris (honorable mention), Josh Prater (honorable mention), Jake Adams (Gold Glove).
Thoughts from Coach Ryan Dupic: When I look back and reflect I know we certainly challenged our program a lot more this year. We played six teams that made the national tournament this year and four teams that are in the top 15 of the country. We challenged ourselves a lot more with our nonconference scheduling. We had a couple wins over Morningside and Midland, who both made the national tournament. Setting the school record for wins, making the conference tournament and performing well was a pretty big step and a nice finish to the season. We fell a little bit short of our ultimate goal, but to see us go play in that competitive environment and perform well was really neat. We had some pitchers step up and make strides and had some hitters have some big at bats in big situations. It was great to see us in contention like that. All in all it was a very positive year as we continue to build this program.
Golf
2015-16 men’s GPAC finish: 7th (312-316-319-296–1,243)
2015-16 women’s GPAC finish: 6th (354-348-379-348–1,429)
Top performers: Amy Ahlers did Amy Ahlers things while again raising her game to new heights. She broke the program’s single-season record for lowest average (80.8) and recorded the fourth, fifth and sixth tournament wins of her career. She placed third in the GPAC for her third career all-conference honor. She was also named an academic all-district selection for the second-straight year. On the men’s side, freshman Nolan Zikas put together the team’s best performances during GPAC qualifier action. While continuing his fight against cancer, Zikas took off during the spring semester. He tied for first at both the third and fourth conference qualifiers and moved up to eighth on the overall GPAC leaderboard. Zikas shot a career low one-under-par 69 on April 19 and finished his first collegiate season with an average round of 77.1, just behind junior Reid Wiebe (76.4) for best on the team.
Season highlights: Both teams broke team single-round records for lowest score during the 2015-16 campaign. The men actually came in under the previous record (300) on three occasions in putting up scores of 291, 296 and 298. Zikas’ 69 spurred the 291 on day two of the BCU Mini-Tour Stop. Meanwhile, the women carded a 335 back on Sept. 9 to break another record. In addition, the women turned in the first, first-place finish under fifth-year head coach Brett Muller. The Bulldogs won the College of Saint Mary Spring Invite on April 4 with a collective score of 350, topping the field of 13 teams. Both squads either tied or set a new season conference best at the final GPAC qualifier. The men’s 296 at GPAC No. 4 represented a program record at a conference event.
GPAC all-conference: Amy Ahlers (finished 3rd in GPAC), Kayla Krueger (finished 12th in GPAC), Reid Wiebe (finished T-23rd in GPAC), Nolan Zikas (finished T-8th in GPAC).
Thoughts from Coach Brett Muller:
On Concordia women
For the women’s team the highlight of the spring season was winning the CSM Spring Invite. The team broke the school record for season scoring average at 352.4. Kayla shined in her last three rounds of her junior season averaging 82.7 in those rounds. We have a core group of players returning next year and have a solid group of recruits coming in as well.
On Concordia men
The men’s team highlight for the spring season was breaking the school record for a team score of 291 at the Briar Cliff Invite. Nolan Zikas had an outstanding spring to finish his freshman season. Nolan tied for first at GPAC Nos. 3 and 4 and finished the spring with a scoring average of 74.8. We have our top five returning next hear and have an outstanding recruiting class coming in.
Softball
2016 record: 30-18 overall, 10-10 GPAC (T-5th)
Top performer: After a solid freshman season, third baseman Autumn Owens elevated herself to one of the GPAC’s best players as a sophomore. She equaled a program single-season home run record with nine bombs. She also put up team highs in batting average (.392), RBIs (45), total bases (99) and slugging percentage (.692). The cannon-armed native of Henderson, Nev., received first team all-conference recognition along with teammate Michaela Woodward.
Season highlights: Concordia won four games over teams that qualified for the national tournament. One such victory was a 13-3, run-rule win over eventual GPAC champion Morningside on April 9. Earlier in the season, the Bulldogs got on a roll by winning 10-straight games, including the first nine of their spring break stay in Tucson, Ariz. The 2016 Bulldogs, led by four hitters with batting averages above .350, ranked as one of the nation’s most prolific offensive teams. Among all NAIA softball teams, they ranked 12th in runs per game (6.4), 12th in slugging percentage (.493), 16th in batting average (.336) and 17th in hits per game (9.5).
GPAC all-conference: Autumn Owens (first team), Michaela Woodward (first team), Taylor Huff (second team), Julia Tyree (second team), Kylie Harpst (honorable mention).
Thoughts from Coach Todd LaVelle: We wanted to make the national tournament. That and winning the conference are goals every year. Over the past few years we’ve had a chance to make some of those things happen. Every year the bar gets raised a little bit higher. Going into the season I felt we had the talent to do that. On paper I felt we had the most talent we’ve had in my three years here. We fell a little bit short of our goals. We were young and we were beat up at the end. We had four or five starters with significant injuries but at the end of the day, it’s the next person up. We just didn’t get the job done. When you sit back and reflect you feel like we have to do some things different. I think we need to prepare better mentally in the offseason. We lost a lot of one-run games where we gave up leads in the last inning, but you do have to look at the successes we had. We got a lot of girls experience that hadn’t played at this level. Autumn Owens had a stellar year at third. There were a lot of things that we did well. We’re heading in the right direction. The bar is set really high.
Tennis
2016 men’s record: 7-12 overall, 1-4 GPAC (5th)
2016 women’s record: 8-15 overall, 5-3 GPAC (T-3rd)
Top performers: Willy Pardos burst onto the scene in 2016 in his first collegiate season. He went 12-6 overall at the No. 1 singles position while dropping just a single match versus GPAC opponents. He made waves on Feb. 6 by downing Baker University’s (Kan.) Spartak Rahachou, then the NAIA’s fifth-ranked singles player. Pardos even cracked the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s NAIA Central region rankings. Pardos went 9-8 in doubles action. On the women’s side, sophomore Annie Horn topped the Bulldogs in both singles (9) and doubles (9) wins. She played at both the Nos. 1 and 2 singles spots. While at the No. 1 doubles spot, Horn posted a 7-3 record against conference competition.
Season highlights: The youthful women’s squad came of age down the stretch when it won five-straight matches over GPAC opponents. That run included a 6-3 GPAC tournament quarterfinal win over Hastings on May 6. During the win streak, Horn and company toppled Midland, Northwestern, Mount Marty and Hastings (twice). The longest win streak for the men came between Feb. 19 and March 4 when they knocked off three-straight foes from the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. Youthful like the women’s team, the men had two freshmen post 12 wins apiece – Pardos and Gabe Poling.
GPAC all-conference:
-MEN – Javier Moreno (doubles), Gabe Poling (singles), Willy Pardos (singles/doubles).
-WOMEN – Annie Horn (singles/doubles honorable mention), Hailey Lemos (doubles honorable mention), Kayla Smock (singles honorable mention).
Thoughts from Coach Joel Reckewey: Having an all-star player in Willy Pardos has benefitted the men’s tennis program in many ways. Having such a high level player such as Willy shows the team that they are capable of winning. He is a good role model. Having him on the team is awesome because he is the type of player you can build the program around.
--The women’s team was very young team made up of primarily sophomore and freshmen players. In building a program, it is very important to expose them to a higher level of play so we’re building the team up. If they have those experiences they will be aware of where the program is going.
Outdoor Track and Field
2016 men’s finishes: 2nd in GPAC, 2nd at national championships
2016 women’s finishes: 2nd in GPAC, 1st at national championships
Top performers:
Men: Take your pick from the likes of star throwers such as Zach Lurz and Josh Slechta, all of whom have at least one career individual national title to their credit. However, Lurz is the most accomplished after having pulled off the impressive feat of sweeping both indoor and outdoor national shot put titles. At the outdoor national championships, Lurz broke his own school record in the shot put with a toss of 59’ 5 ¼.” He also added All-America finishes in the discus and hammer throw. Slechta stole the show at the GPAC outdoor championships, winning discus and hammer titles while breaking the conference meet record in the hammer.
Women: There are plenty of choices here as well, but the nod goes to Liz King, who led the Concordia women to a national title with a team high 18 points. She reached that lofty point total by winning the national title in the hammer and by placing runner up in the javelin. That effort came on the heels of GPAC titles in both events. King ended her career as a four-time GPAC champion in the javelin and two-time champ in the hammer. The USTFCCCA named King the 2016 NAIA Midwest Region Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year.
Season highlights: Women's track and field produced the biggest highlight of the 2015-16 athletic season by winning it’s first-ever team national title. Liz King and a deep group of female throwers were responsible for 66 of 71 team points as part of a dominant performance. On the men's side, Zach Lurz came up with a national title in the shot put in helping the Bulldog men to a national runner-up finish. There were also individual second-place finishes turned in by King (hammer), Kali Robb (shot put), Josh Slechta (hammer) and Lucas Wiechman (decathlon) and a total of 23 All-America awards earned. At the GPAC championships in early May, both Concordia teams placed second on the strength of 10 individual GPAC titles. Two conference titles apiece came from King, Slechta, Wiechman and Kim Wood. Slechta broke school records in the hammer and discus and Lurz eclipsed his own program standard in the shot put.
GPAC all-conference: View complete list HERE.
NAIA All-Americans: Kattie Cleveland (hammer – 6th; discus – 7th); Stephanie Coley (discus – 3rd; shot put – 4th); McKenzie Gravo (pole vault – 7th); Liz King (hammer – 1st; javelin – 2nd); Phil Kreutzer (hammer – 6th); Samantha Liermann (shot put – 5th); Zach Lurz (shot put – 1st; hammer – 4th; discus – 6th); Kali Robb (shot put – 2nd; hammer – 5th; discus – 6th); Jose Rojas (hammer – 3rd; shot put – 4th); Josh Slechta (hammer – 2nd; discus – 5th); Tricia Svoboda (discus – 3rd); Lucas Wiechman (decathlon – 2nd); Kim Wood (800 meters – 6th).
Thoughts from Coach Kregg Einspahr: We thought we had two good teams. We have a lot of juniors and seniors that have been here before and with that we thought we had a chance. This is just a dream come true to be able to win another national championship. You always hope to be in that position someday. What a wonderful feeling for the whole coaching staff and athletes who work so hard. They’re so representative of what Concordia is about.
Ed McLaughlin on women’s national title: It’s always hard to put into words. I can’t really explain what happened. We came into it thinking it was a possibility. To actually pull it off is just amazing. The girls talked about this last year. They wanted this.