The winter of 2016-17 produced many thrills for fans of the Bulldogs. Top-10 national finishes were recorded by men’s indoor track and field (second), women’s basketball (national semifinalist) and women’s indoor track and field (seventh). Head coach Drew Olson’s women’s basketball team dominated the GPAC and appeared in the national semifinals for the fifth time in program history. In his first season leading the wrestling program, Andrew Nicola led Concordia to GPAC dual and postseason championships. The impressive winter sports display moved the Bulldogs from sixth to second in the current GPAC All-Sports Trophy Standings.
TOP MOMENT
Women’s basketball dominates GPAC
The 2016-17 Concordia women’s basketball team became just the second in school history to win GPAC regular-season and tournament titles. It did so in dominant fashion, going 19-1 in conference regular-season action. The Bulldogs then won the GPAC tournament championship in a memorable overtime battle with Dakota Wesleyan. The final seconds of that contest provided some of the lasting images of the season. Two Tiger attempts in the closing moments rimmed out and a large group of Concordia students rushed the floor in celebration. The Bulldogs won, 78-77, in what was a departure from the norm this season. Concordia grew accustomed to winning by comfortable margins. Of their 19 league wins (school single-season record), 15 came by margins of 20 points or less.
Though the season ended with a loss in the national semifinals, this squad put together one of the greatest seasons in school history. Said honorable mention All-American Quinn Wragge after the championship win over Dakota Wesleyan, “This is why we play. That was our goal at the beginning of the season and we accomplished it. There’s no one else I’d rather do it with than these girls.”
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Wiechman pulls in athlete of the meet honors at GPAC, national championships
No one shined brighter this past indoor track season than Lucas Wiechman, a native of Pilger, Neb. The multi-event star captured his seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th career All-America awards. Wiechman reached the pinnacle in early March, winning the national title in the heptathlon. He also garnered All-America accolades in the pole vault and 60 meter hurdles and was a member of the All-America 4x400 meter relay. In all four of the aforementioned events, Wiechman collected GPAC titles. For his efforts, Wiechman was named the most outstanding athlete of the meet at both the GPAC and NAIA national championships.
Folkerts finishes all-time great career for men’s basketball
The college basketball career of Chandler Folkerts came to an end on Feb. 22 when Concordia fell in the GPAC tournament quarterfinals. Folkerts ends his career as one of the men’s basketball program’s all-time best players. He capped his career with a second team All-America award. As a senior, The Chanimal averaged 18.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.4 blocked shots while shooting 68.6 percent from the floor. On the school’s all-time lists, Folkerts ranks second in rebounds (868), third in scoring (1,963) and fourth in blocks (142).
Said head coach Ben Limback, “I don’t think it’s sunk in the type of career he’s had. He played at a very high level for a number of years. This year I thought he expanded as a leader and you could see that amongst our team. His unselfishness and his work ethic was something he brought every day. I think we’ll look back at him as one of the all-time greats here. There’s also all the off-court stuff, the academics and his character. It was a spectacular career that he had at Concordia.”
Francisco advances to heavyweight national championship match
Heavyweight Ceron Francisco captivated the Concordia community with his thrilling push for a national championship. His national runner-up run included wins over No. 11 Terrell Moore of Campbellsville University (Kan.) in the quarterfinals and second-ranked Jacob Laden of Grand View University (Iowa) in the semifinals. Francisco’s victory over Laden marked his 100th as a collegiate wrestler. The native of Fayetteville, N.C., ended his career as a two-time All-American. Francisco fell in the championship match to fifth-ranked Demetrius Thomas of Williams Baptist University (Ark.). Said Francisco, “I’m just appreciate of everybody. Concordia is a place of God’s people. The results show it. I’m just thankful for the whole experience.”
Women’s basketball makes national semifinal run
Though a 17-point lead slipped away in the national semifinals, the 11th season of head coach Drew Olson’s tenure was about as enjoyable as any. On the way to the Fab Four, the Bulldogs defeated Bryan College (Tenn.), 101-66, No. 18 Cardinal Stritch University (Wis.), 75-56, and No. 10 University of Jamestown (N.D.), 74-59. Concordia was eliminated by Saint Xavier University (Ill.), 91-83, in the semifinals. Junior guard Dani Andersen put on a shooting clinic, scoring 21 points on 7-for-11 3-point shooting versus Saint Xavier. Andersen was named to the all-tournament team. In her first national tournament experience, Philly Lammers averaged 12.8 points and 9.8 rebounds during the four-game stay at the national championships.
Men’s track and field finishes as national runner up
Ranked fourth nationally entering the indoor national championships, the Concordia men’s track and field team outperformed expectations, piling up 57 points while finishing as the runner up. It’s been an impressive string of top-five national finishes for Bulldog men’s track, which was also the national runner up at the 2016 outdoor national championships, placed third at the 2016 indoor national championships and won the 2015 outdoor national title. Head coach Matt Beisel’s squad was fueled at the national championships by three individual national titlists: Cody Boellstorff, Zach Lurz and Lucas Wiechman.
Wrestling wraps up GPAC titles for third-straight year
The wrestling program’s supremacy within the GPAC continues. Under first-year head coach Andrew Nicola, Concordia went a perfect 7-0 in conference dual action, pushing its GPAC dual win streak to 21. The Bulldogs also held off Midland and Morningside and won the NAIA North Qualifier/GPAC tournament. Concordia has won both conference dual and postseason titles three years running. Not only was Nicola named the GPAC coach of the year, the Bulldogs placed four representatives on the conference’s first team: Ken Burkhardt Jr., Ceron Francisco, Kirk Kaliszewski and Josh Nelson. Francisco won GPAC wrestler of the year honors, meaning Concordia has taken the award four years in a row.
Boellstorff, Lurz defend national titles
Cody Boellstorff and Zach Lurz had targets on their backs as defending national champions in the weight throw and shot put, respectively. Boellstorff held down the No. 1 national weight throw ranking all season long and backed it up with his winning toss of 67’ 9 ¼” at the national championships. It was Boellstorff’s third career national title. Now a four-time national champion, Lurz won the shot put competition by more than a foot with his season best throw of 58’ 7.” Lurz now owns 14 career All-America awards.
SEASON SUMMARIES
Men’s Basketball
2016-17 record: 21-10 overall; 10-8 GPAC (T-5th)
Top performer: Not just a top performer this season, senior Chandler Folkerts is one of the top players in the history of the storied Concordia men’s basketball program. During the 2016-17 academic year, Folkerts pulled the following honors: NAIA Liston Award, CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, NAIA second team All-America, GPAC defensive player of the year and first team All-GPAC. With Folkerts on board, the program improved its record every season. As a senior, Folkerts averaged 18.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.4 blocked shots and shot 68.6 percent from the floor as one of the top post players in the nation.
Season highlights: The 14-4 finish to the season that included three road wins over top 25 opponents and one over eventual GPAC champion Briar Cliff proved that Concordia had the ability to play with just about anyone. The season’s signature moment came at No. 7 Dakota Wesleyan when Folkerts went off for 37 points and 14 rebounds in an overtime upset of the Tigers, a national qualifier. Of course Folkerts provided many highlights, but there were also the individual efforts of sharpshooting guard Eli Ziegler and the rise of freshmen such as Clay Reimers and Tanner Shuck. Reimers totaled 22 points and 10 rebounds late in the season at Briar Cliff. Additionally, the Bulldogs dominated CIT, which was hosted in Seward.
GPAC all-conference: Chandler Folkerts (first team); Eli Ziegler (second team); Seth Curran (honorable mention).
NAIA All-America: Chandler Folkerts (second team).
Thoughts from Coach Ben Limback: We had a lot of close losses the first semester. You look at Northwestern, both games, and certainly we had some other ones in there that we wish could have gone the other way. I think what we did down in Florida was a big confidence boost for our team. We were on the road back-to-back games and it was a defensive struggle. We didn’t score and shoot as well as we normally have. I think that was one of the first games where we could say that we won because of our defense. I think guys started to see the importance of that end of the floor. I think we carried that over to the rest of the semester. I thought we played harder and were more active on the defensive end. We were getting more deflections. It was a different mindset knowing that we can’t just outscore every opponent. We have to be able to defend at a better level than we had the first semester. We lose some really good seniors and some really good leadership. We have a lot of question marks, but we have a strong group of guys. We don’t want that momentum that we built at the end of the year to end. The culture, the work ethic and the buy in is all very important in the offseason.
Women’s Basketball
2016-17 record: 34-3 overall; 19-1 GPAC (1st); conference tournament champs
Top performer: Take your pick between first team All-GPAC selections Mary Janovich, Philly Lammers and Quinn Wragge. Statistically, few players nationally were as good as Lammers on a per-minute basis. The Millard West High School product played exactly 20.0 minutes per game and still averaged 13.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.24 blocks. In her first experience at the national tournament, Lammers averaged 12.8 points and 9.8 rebounds over the four-game run in Sioux City. She then became the first freshman in program history to be named either a first-, second- or third-team All-American (she was awarded second team). She was also tabbed the conference’s freshman of the year.
Season highlights: There were many. The most rabid atmospheres inside Walz Arena all winter came at CIT and then when the Bulldogs held off Dakota Wesleyan, 78-77, in a GPAC championship overtime heart stopper. What made Concordia such a marvel was the way it dominated game-in and game-out. Of its 19 GPAC regular-season league wins, 15 came by margins of 20 points or more. The Bulldogs made it happen by running teams out of the gym with a devastating zone press. The 2016-17 team won both GPAC regular-season and tournament titles and became the fifth squad in program history to reach the national semifinals. Not only were three players selected to the conference’s first team, Lammers was named freshman of the year, Janovich defensive player of the year and Drew Olson the coach of the year. The team’s 34 wins tied for the third highest total in program single-season history.
GPAC all-conference: Drew Olson (coach of the year); Mary Janovich (first team); Philly Lammers (first team); Quinn Wragge (first team); Dani Andersen (honorable mention); Shelby Quinn (honorable mention); Erin Vieselmeyer (honorable mention).
NAIA All-Americans: Philly Lammers (second team); Mary Janovich (honorable mention); Quinn Wragge (honorable mention).
Thoughts from Coach Drew Olson: I was really proud of our kids for their focus. I thought we played really well at the national tournament. Each game we had people step up like we did all year. It’s disappointing to fall short of what we hoped for, but I know looking back, it was a great season. To get to the final four is a big challenge. There are so many great teams there. We just kind of ran into a buzzsaw. It was an awesome season. It was a success. Yes, we fell short of what we ultimately wanted to accomplish, a national championship. We didn’t catch the breaks we needed to win it all, but that doesn’t take away from the things that we accomplished. Those things came because a group of girls came together, worked hard and believed what we were teaching. It’s going to be looked at as one of the best seasons all-time in our tradition rich program history.
Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field
2017 men’s GPAC finish: 2nd
2017 men’s national finish: 2nd
2017 women’s GPAC finish: 4th
2017 women’s national finish: 7th
Top performers: Cody Boellstorff (weight throw), Zach Lurz (shot put) and Lucas Wiechman (heptathlon) all captured national titles at the 2017 indoor national championships. Wiechman stole the show for much of the indoor season. He seized Most Outstanding Performer of the Meet accolades at both the GPAC and national championships as part of a memorable indoor season. Wiechman was a GPAC champion in four events and an All-American those same four events, including the men’s 4x400 meter relay. On the women’s side, Allie Brooks shined while breaking school records in the pole vault and the high jump. She won the GPAC title in the pole vault and then placed third in that event at the national championships.
Season highlights: From a team perspective, the men’s national runner-up finish supplied the biggest highlight of the indoor season. Ranked fourth nationally entering the meet, the Bulldogs outperformed their projections with a total of eight All-America efforts. In addition to the three individual national titles, CJ Muller was the nation’s runner up in the 600 meters and Lurz (weight throw) and Wiechman (pole vault) both added third-place finishes. The women also surpassed expectations with a seventh-place national finish spurred by the likes of Brooks and national runner ups Kali Robb (weight throw) and Adrianna Shawn (shot put). At the GPAC championships, the Concordia men and women combined for nine conference titles. As a team, the men placed second. Their GPAC titlists were Boellstorff, Lurz, Muller, Wiechman and the 4x400 meter relay.
GPAC all-conference: See the full list HERE.
NAIA All-America: Men’s 4x400 Meter Relay (6th); Cody Boellstorff (weight throw – 1st); Allie Brooks (pole vault – 3rd); Samantha Liermann (shot put – 5th); Zach Lurz (shot put – 1st; weight throw – 3rd); Sydney Meyer (weight throw – 5th); CJ Muller (600 meters – 2nd); Kali Robb (weight throw – 2nd; shot put – 8th); Adrianna Shaw (shot put – 2nd); Lucas Wiechman (heptathlon – 1st; pole vault – 3rd; 60 meter hurdles – 5th).
Thoughts from Coach Matt Beisel: Any time we end up top 10 at nationals for either girls or guys and top three in the conference while outperforming projections, I’m really pleased. Lucas Wiechman getting athlete of the meet for both conference and nationals was icing on the cake. I’m super pleased with it. At the national level because of so many teams involved and so many circumstances, simply to make the top 10 at nationals is a big deal. When you get a second place and a seventh place finish, it’s humbling and exciting. It was a lot of fun. I’m already excited to do what we’re going to do outdoors, but you can’t count on anything. We take care of business one day at a time and one kid at a time – and we pray a lot.
Wrestling
2016-17 record: 11-4 overall; 7-0 GPAC (1st)
NAIA North finish: 1st
NAIA national finish: 15th
Top performer: Two All-American seniors helped pave the way for another successful year of Concordia wrestling. Ken Burkhardt Jr. became the program’s first-ever three-time All-American and first to reach 100 career wins. Fellow senior Ceron Francisco also reached the lofty 100-win plateau and made a thrilling run to the national final at 285 pounds. Francisco was nearly unbeatable in his final collegiate season, going 26-2 overall. He won a second-straight NAIA North Qualifier title and was named the GPAC wrestler of the year, an award that has gone to the Bulldogs four-straight seasons. Meanwhile, Burkhardt Jr. eclipsed 30 wins for the third-consecutive season. He finished his career with 122 wins.
Season highlights: Francisco’s national semifinal victory over No. 2 Jacob Laden of Grand View (Iowa) produced thunderous roars of approval inside the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, site of the national championships. Behind Ceron, Concordia remained dominant in the GPAC, extending its run of consecutive conference dual wins to 21. The Bulldogs are now GPAC dual and NAIA North/GPAC tournament champions for the third year in a row. Kirk Kaliszewski joined Francisco as a regional champion. Seven different Bulldogs earned all-conference accolades and nine earned berths to the national championships. Additionally, Andrew Nicola garnered GPAC coach of the year accolades.
GPAC all-conference: Andrew Nicola (coach of the year); Ken Burkhardt Jr. (first team); Ceron Francisco (wrestler of the year; first team); Kirk Kaliszewski (first team); Josh Nelsen (first team); Alexander Reimers (second team); DJ McIntyre (honorable mention); Dmitri Smith (honorable mention).
NAIA All-America: Ken Burkhardt Jr. (197; 6th); Ceron Francisco (285, 2nd).
Thoughts from Coach Andrew Nicola: I was really satisfied with the way the team responded to a new coach coming in. I’m thankful for the hard-working attitude the guys have had and how they received me with open arms. The senior class definitely led by example. We had a lot of great things happen. Ceron and Ken will be irreplaceable like a lot of our seniors. They paved the way for the future years. We have such a young squad even though we’re losing a lot of guys. We have young guys that are eager to continue our GPAC run and our regional run and continue to climb the ladder nationally. I’m really happy with the young men that we have. It makes me even more excited seeing the work that they’re already putting in this offseason. I’m looking forward to building this program to national prominence.
Cheer/Dance
Cheer GPAC finish: 5th
Cheer regional finish: 10th
Dance GPAC finish: 7th
Dance regional finish: 7th
Summary: Both of head coach Mandi Maser’s cheer and dance squads competed four teams during the winter season. In dual meets, both squads went 1-1 with cheer’s win coming over Hastings and the Dance team claiming victory over Doane. The season concluded at the NAIA North Regional Qualifier at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan., on Feb. 24. Both teams also regularly appeared and performed at Concordia home sporting events such as football, basketball, volleyball and wrestling.
