Twilight Meet Results | Concordia T&F YouTube
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SEWARD, Neb. – On the eve of the 2025 graduation ceremony on the Concordia University, Nebraska campus, Bulldog Track & Field took advantage of a warm and near wind-less Friday (May 9) to host one final meet. As part of the annual Concordia Twilight, five Bulldogs won event championships and standouts such as throwers Connor Asche and Abi Wohlgemuth and multi-event athlete Addie Reimer improved their positioning for the national championships. For some, the Twilight marked the final meet of their collegiate careers.
Head Coach Matt Beisel’s nationally ranked programs welcomed to Bulldog Stadium athletes from more than 30 institutions. Competition from strong NAIA and NCAA Division II athletes provided the Bulldogs the push they needed on an action-packed evening.
“It was beautiful weather – about the best you could ask for,” Beisel said. “We had great performances and we had some seniors who had their last track meet ever. We got a couple athletes moving into the top 16 nationally and a lot of personal bests. We also had a lot of people working together to run off a great meet.”
In her only event of the meet, Wohlgemuth shined one week after capturing her first career GPAC title. The Lincoln Lutheran alum took her conference championship throw a step farther by whirling the hammer a personal best distance of 182’ 5” on Friday. Based on the national leaderboard entering the weekend, that mark ranks second best in the NAIA this season. Wohlgemuth was the NAIA indoor national runner up in the weight throw.
Said Wohlgemuth of her Twilight performance, “I was just hoping not to get rusty before nationals in two weeks. I wanted to see if I could get a good mark on the first throw and hopefully set myself up for the next two throws and make finals. That was our goal. Ed and I talked about it – to go out there and try to rip one and see how far it could go.”
Later in the day, Asche was seen shouting with joy and pumping his fists after his career best toss of 185 feet in the hammer. Based on the current NAIA leaderboard, Asche vaulted himself into the top 16 as he seeks national qualification in both the hammer and the shot put. While the efforts of Asche and Wohlgemuth were the highlights of the Twilight for the throws crew, 2024 All-American Gretchen Stottlemyre recorded a season best in the javelin with a B standard of 133’ 6.” Additionally, Abby Gerber won the “unseeded” women’s hammer competition with a season best B mark of 167’ 5.” On the men’s side, Austen Rozelle hit B standards with season bests in the discus (164’ 2”) and hammer (181’) while making a push of his own to get to nationals.
The heptathlon was a late addition to the Concordia Twilight and may have helped Reimer earn her way to the national meet. The sophomore from Lisbon, Wis., piled up 4,351 points in the Twilight heptathlon competition and has leapt into the top 16 on the national list. Meanwhile, teammate Josi Noble wound up with 4,169 heptathlon points in her pursuit of a trip to nationals. A past All-American, Noble currently sits just outside the NAIA top 16.
In the race walk, freshman Jonny Jurchen again eclipsed the NAIA automatic qualifying time while crossing the finish line in 23:51.83 as the top competitor at the Twilight. Jurchen has locked up his spot at the national meet and could be joined in Marion, Ind., by teammate Luke Hammang. The pair have helped revive the race walk at Concordia in a significant way. On Friday, Sam Olson (PR of 26:35.75) placed second to Jurchen.
There were plenty of other notable performances at the Twilight. In the long jump, Kiki Nyanok again flirted with an NAIA B standard while landing at 18’ 9 ¾ (0.02 meters from the B). In that same event, Hayley Miles jumped 17 feet. In the high jump, Amanda Steinke placed third by clearing 5’ 1 ¾.”
Per usual, junior Mayson Ostermeyer rose to the top of the podium in the pole vault. The Crofton, Neb., native rose above 15’ 7 ¼” at the Twilight. In that competition, loud roars rang out when junior Evan Hill went over 15 feet (15’ 1 ½”) for a personal best. On the women’s side of the vault, Erin Boggs jumped 10’ 7” to lead the way.
Elsewhere on the track, junior Kayla Svoboda ran a solid time of 14.47 in the prelims (14.63 in the finals) in the 100-meter hurdles. In a strong event for the Bulldogs, four women’s athletes ran under a minute in the 400 meters: Kayla Kirchner (57.27), Emily Loseke (58.86), Tayden Kirchner (59.75) and Isabelle Salters (59.97). In races that were loaded with Concordia athletes, Justin Sherman paced the squad in the 800 meters (1:56.63) and Aidan Limback led the pack in the 5,000 meters (15:56.36). Trinity Tuls ran the women’s 800 meters in 2:17.79.
Less than a week after competing in six events in a sterling outing at the GPAC Championships, Adrianna Rodencal took in the Twilight Meet and pitched in as a meet worker. Rodencal’s body earned the rest after she broke two GPAC meet records a week ago.
Said Rodencal as the Twilight unfolded, “A lot of it was the coaches. We went into this year knowing that I had a lot of events I could do. As it got closer to conference, it was like, how many do you want to do? I wanted to do as many as I could. The goal was to get athlete of the meet again and repeat what I did freshman year. A lot of it was the coaches believing in me and giving me workouts that would help. … it all kind of worked out.”
Concordia Twilight Champions
· Connor Asche: unseeded hammer throw (185’)
· Abby Gerber: unseeded hammer throw (167’ 5”)
· Mayson Ostermeyer: pole vault (15’ 7 ¼”)
· Jonny Jurchen: 5,000-meter race walk (23:51.83)
· Addie Reimer: heptathlon (4,351)
Select athletes (mostly field events) will also be in action on Saturday at the Loper Twilight hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney. The first events are slated to go off at 2 p.m. CT from Kearney High School. More details about the meet can be found HERE.