Men’s Outlook
Head Coach: Matt Beisel (11th season)
2025 Finish: 3rd in GPAC
Key Returners (from 2025 GPAC meet): Abram Chance; Charlie Evans; Vaughn Hendrickson; Aidan Limback; Jessup Pederson; Trey Robertson; Justin Sherman; Keith Siek; Ransom Watts.
Key Loss: Trevor Kuncl
2025 GPAC All-Conference: Vaughn Hendrickson (3rd; NAIA national qualifier); Trey Robertson (11th); Trevor Kuncl (13th); Aidan Limback (15th).
Twenty-eight athletes return to a 2026 Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Cross Country roster that features three 2025 GPAC All-Conference award winners. The holdovers have grown accustomed to contributing to top-three conference finishing squads that have flirted with NAIA National Championship qualification. However, the Bulldogs have found themselves as one of the last teams on the outside looking in over the past four consecutive seasons.
Heading into his 11th season as head coach at his alma mater, Matt Beisel sees plenty of reasons for optimism. Concordia graduated only one of the 10 runners that represented the program at the 2025 GPAC Championships. The Bulldogs also welcomed in five freshmen and a transfer.
“I'm just very intensely curious to see what both teams will be capable of,” Beisel said. “We return all of the other guys (outside of 2025-26 senior Trevor Kuncl) who were in that top 10, and it's not just that they did this in cross country. I saw so much growth and improvement in those guys through the indoor and outdoor track seasons.”
In a highly competitive conference, Concordia has posted GPAC finishes of second, third, third and third, respectively, over the previous four years. Not surprisingly, the Bulldogs were pegged at No. 3 in the 2026 GPAC preseason coaches’ poll, behind only ’25 national qualifiers Dordt and Doane. Concordia will make a push for its first conference championship since 2012 with heavy hitters at the top of the pack such as junior Vaughn Hendrickson (2024 GPAC champion) and seniors Trey Robertson (2024 national qualifier) and Aidan Limback (2025 All-GPAC).
A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., Hendrickson is already highly accomplished in his collegiate career, having placed 36th at the national meet as a freshman when he garnered NAIA All-America accolades. Hendrickson has made back-to-back appearances at nationals and has placed in the top three at the ’24 and ’25 GPAC Championships. Hendrickson went through some struggles in the middle of last season, but he collaborated with Beisel and found a training plan that elevated him back to an elite level.
“Vaughn is a guy with a tremendous heart for other people and is super well-liked and respected on the team,” Beisel said. “He's also a very hard worker who really tries to get his lifestyle where it needs to be. He does the extra things. We've learned some things about his biomechanics over the last couple of years that have made a difference.”
Meanwhile, Robertson placed as the conference runner up to Hendrickson in 2024 and narrowly missed out on a return trip to nationals in ’25. He’s motivated heading into this fall. Said Beisel, “Trey is a senior and has shown great leadership and great positive intensity. He leads by example. You couldn't find many people who are as gritty and tough as he is. He's a ranch and farm kid from western Nebraska, and he brings that work ethic to the table. He has very high expectations for himself, and that's a huge thing.”
Part of an 11-person senior class, Limback has made strides each season of his college career. Following Hendrickson (24:52.77) and Robertson (25:25.72) in the 8k conference meet held in Ashland, Neb., in 2025, Limback broke through with an All-GPAC placement of 15th (25:30.39). Then freshman Abram Chance (26:16.42) rounded out the team’s top five and placed 23rd in the GPAC.
The team’s six through 10 runners at the conference championships were Ransom Watts (26:40.11), Keith Siek (26:43.78), Justin Sherman (27:01.61), Jessup Pederson (27:21.36) and Charlie Evans (28:07.28). Siek and Sherman are fresh off competing in the 4x800-meter relay at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships this past May. The 4x8’s time of 7:36.92 ranked sixth fastest in program history.
With those returners leading the way, the Bulldogs believe they are positioned for a special season. Said Limback of the prospects of qualifying for nationals as a team, “It would mean everything. We've been a couple spots off every year since I've been here. We know we have the talent, we know we have the work ethic, and we know we have each other to help us get over that hump. We just have to trust each other and take the next step. I'm super excited about this year. I think our guys have been working super hard, and I'm ready for the season.”
Beisel highlighted the sophomore Siek (Saint Joseph, Mich.) as someone capable of making a strong leap forward from last fall. Among the freshmen, watch out for Lincoln Christian High School alum Nolan Engel and Curtis, Neb., native Kael Garrett. Engel was a high school state medalist in cross country and in the 3,200 meters on the track. Meanwhile, Garrett was voted his high school’s team MVP three times in both cross country and track.
Additionally, the likes of senior Luke Hammang, junior Jonny ‘The Jet’ Jurchen and sophomore Jack Habegger are accomplished race walkers who add depth to the team. The Seward High School product Jurchen is a three-time NAIA All-American and the school record holder in the indoor race walk.
The cross country teams reported to campus on Aug. 18 and began building relationships and developing goals for the upcoming season. Preseason training included early wakeup calls for morning mileage. Said Beisel while discussing both the men’s and women’s teams, “Already, there's a great chemistry as we've woven 20 new freshmen and transfers into an existing team of great kids. I think that team chemistry and culture is a huge factor in our development from a physical standpoint.”
The culture is centered around faith in Christ. That like-mindedness is something Concordia can rally around as it aspires to book a trip to Vancouver, Wash., come mid-November.
Says Limback, “Our main goal is making it to nationals, but I think for it to be a successful season, I would love to see us keep Christ at the center of what we do. I would love to see the team grow together. There are more important things than just the results of our meets, even though those are important overall. I just want us to have fun on this team. It's been one of the best parts of my college experience, and I would love to continue building that foundation for future athletes who come into the program.”
Limback and his teammates will have an idea of where they stand by the end of the day on Sept. 4 when the season opening Augustana Twilight takes place in Sioux Falls, S.D. It will be the first of five regular season meets leading into the 2026 GPAC Championsihps hosted by Dordt on Nov. 7. The NAIA National Championships will unfold in Vancouver on Nov. 20. View the complete schedule HERE.
Women’s Outlook
Head Coach: Matt Beisel (11th season)
2025 Finish: 5th in GPAC
Key Returners (from 2025 GPAC meet): Izzi Brumbaugh; Lilly Dall; Lydia Edmonds; Keeli Green; Rachel Harris; Macee Ripke; Ashley Robertson; Annaka Schlachter; Annika Staab; Alison Stepanek.
Key Losses: Keegan Beisel; Hannah Beintema.
2025 GPAC All-Conference: Keeli Green (4th).
2025 NAIA All-American: Keeli Green (26th).
There’s no question that the Concordia University, Nebraska Women’s Cross Country program boasts a deeper roster compared to one year ago. The Bulldogs return all 10 competitors from the 2025 GPAC Championships while welcoming 13 freshmen and a transfer to the 2026 team. The dynamics mean that the expectations are for Concordia to contend with the top squads in the GPAC and make a push for national championship qualification, a feat the program attained in 2019, 2022 and 2023 under Head Coach Matt Beisel.
This will be year 11 for Beisel at the helm of the cross country and track & field programs. On the women’s side, Beisel has guided his teams to a combined 12 GPAC championships with the most recent one in cross country occurring in 2019. Beisel knows a strong team when he sees one.
“There's so much talent in that group of returners,” Beisel said. “There were a couple who had some injuries in the spring that they're working past right now, but at the same time they're showing really good signs in practice. Most of them had really good summer training, and I'm very grateful for that. I think it could go any which way.
“I'd say a full third of our team is very middle-distance oriented. Traditionally, some of those middle-distance runners have been some of our best 6K girls. As they continue to develop and learn what their capabilities are, I'm very excited to see what they bring to the table.”
An Arlington, Neb., native, returning NAIA All-American Keeli Green has the ability to run with the very best the NAIA has to offer. The Bulldogs hope to get Green back to form after she sat out the indoor and outdoor track seasons. Her presence is one of the reasons why Concordia was pegged third in the 2026 GPAC preseason coaches’ poll after it placed fifth in the conference last season. According to league coaches, the teams to beat heading into the fall are Dordt and College of Saint Mary.
The aim will be for Concordia to push additional runners into the conference’s individual top 15. This past outdoor track season, Bulldogs Landri Loos (800 meters) and Ashley Robertson (1,500 meters) earned all-conference honors while building momentum moving into the summer. As for Green, she’s been a rockstar at GPAC cross country meets, placing third in 2023 and fourth in 2025. She has twice competed at the NAIA National Championships. She rose to medal winner status last fall by placing 26th nationally (21.50.5 6K time).
Green led the way for a ’25 team that was built heavily around freshmen and sophomores. Those sophomores from last season are now stepping into larger leadership roles as juniors. The group includes the likes of 2025 conference competitors in Lydia Edmonds, Annaka Schlachter, Annika Staab and Alison Stepanek. A Faith Lutheran High School (Las Vegas) product and daughter of parents (Chad and Amanda Stepanek) who are Concordia alums, Stepanek relishes the role of “team mom.”
Stepanek has no problem talking to anyone, and she’ll force the freshmen to open up if she has to. Says Stepanek in breaking down the 2026 team, “All 10 girls (from GPAC) are returning, which I think is amazing. I think the depth this year is really good. We have some really amazing freshmen coming in, so it's going to be a lot more competitive, which is good. We definitely need that. Last year, being in the top 10, I was sometimes stressed if I was sick or injured or just having a bad day. But now we have such depth on our team. I think we're going to do really well.”
At last season’s GPAC Championships, Green (21:48.15) was followed in the team’s top five by Schlachter (23:37.58), Stepanek (24:13.79), Edmonds (24:18.56) and Robertson (24:20.38). Robertson was the leader of four freshmen who represented the Bulldogs in Ashland, Neb. The back half of the lineup included Izzi Brumbaugh (24:37.47), Macee Ripke (24:55.17), Staab (24:59.60), Rachel Harris (25:03.81) and Lilly Dall (25:22.33). A transfer from Concordia University Ann Arbor, Ripke is back for her senior season in 2026.
The newcomers are expected to push for spots inside the team’s top 10. Beisel has especially high hopes for this year’s freshmen, which could prove to be one of the cross country program’s top classes in recent years. A state champion in Virginia, freshman Rachel Prince broke Keeli Green’s program freshman record in the preseason 1,600-meter time trial. Plenty of other rookies are primed to make an impact, such as Hope Beck (Elk River, Minn.), Katie Johnson (Grand Island, Neb.) and Violet Whitney (Centennial, Colo.).
Three of the aforementioned freshmen ran 5K races in under 19 minutes during their high school careers. Says Beisel, “I think we have some really good ability. It's just about whether we can keep them all safe and healthy as we continue to progress into the season.”
Asked what would make this season a success, Stepanek spoke more about off-the-course dynamics. This preseason, Stepanek helped organize a team activity that involved giving gifts to the freshmen. That’s part of the bonding process.
Said Stepanek of what she hopes to see this season, “I think just growth. Every girl, I just want them to succeed. It doesn't even have to be running. There are some girls on the team who are quiet, and I've seen them flourish and talk so much more than they probably ever have in high school. Socially, I want them to grow. Academically, I think we're all pretty smart. There are a lot of girls doing some hard classes. Academically, I want us to grow and learn a lot. I also want us to strengthen our faith.”
Stepanek stated she hasn’t thought too much about what the end game might be this season, but she also rhetorically asked, “Who doesn’t want to go to nationals?” Stepanek and her teammates would be thrilled to have an opportunity to make the trip to Vancouver, Wash., in November.
Beisel will do his best to help guide the team back to the national stage. In any sport, the best teams are often the ones who are inspired by athletes who are strong leaders.
“The athletes are the drivers on this,” Beisel said. “They have very high expectations for themselves, and they know we have capability. With our returning athletes and the new athletes who bring a lot to the table, we're in a pretty good position if we can continue keeping most of our people healthy and developing. Some good things are going to happen, and that's exciting to think about.”
The gun will go off for the first time this 2026 season when the Bulldogs compete at the Augustana Twilight in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Friday, Sept. 4. It will be the first of five regular season meets leading into the 2026 GPAC Championsihps hosted by Dordt on Nov. 7. The NAIA National Championships will unfold in Vancouver on Nov. 20. View the complete schedule HERE.