KEARNEY, Neb. – One day after a Memorial Service held to honor the life of Matthew Wing, Concordia University, Nebraska Track & Field opened the 2026 season with heavy hearts. On Sunday (March 29), Bulldog athletes wore reminders of teammates Wing and Noah Ramirez in light of the tragic car accident that took the life of Wing and placed Ramirez in the hospital. In kicking off a purposeful season, Concordia put forth a series of solid performances at the Central Nebraska Challenge co-hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney and Hastings at Kearney High School.
After sharing a tribute to Wing and Ramirez to her Instagram story, Adrianna Rodencal took to the track and produced automatic national qualifying standards in both the 100- and 400-meter hurdles. Nathan Baldwin also collected two NAIA ‘B’ national qualifying standards in the throws.
The circumstances have been unique throughout the month of March for Head Coach Matt Beisel’s squads. Said Beisel, “I think we definitely have athletes who were emotionally and physically worn out, and it affected them. It was a victory for them to get on the track today. I had a couple kids who weren’t originally planning to compete who were very closely tied to the people involved in the incident. Because the meet got moved to today, they decided to go ahead and do it. It was important for them to go compete and get started again.”
Added Beisel, “Adrianna had a really good meet. We had good performances in just about every race. There were ups and downs, which is not unexpected at the first meet.”
Roughly three weeks after winning the indoor national title in the 60-meter hurdles, Rodencal has begun her final collegiate outdoor season. The Lincoln Lutheran alum set a foundation for the spring by clocking times of 13.55 in the 100 hurdles (first place) and 59.32 in the 400 hurdles (second place) at the Central Nebraska Challenge. Rodencal also served as the anchor leg for the team’s 4x100-meter relay that posted a B standard of 46.99 (second fastest in school history) and placed second in the meet. The 4x1 also included Adysen McCarter, Kayla Kirchner and Kiki Nyanok.
A sophomore from Sutton, Neb., Baldwin leads the way for the throws group. In a field that included strong NCAA Division II competition, the two-time All-American Baldwin placed third in the discus (164’ 4”) and fourth in the hammer throw (185’ 3”) with B marks in both events. Another B mark came from junior Emry Gutz, the reigning GPAC javelin champion. He placed eighth in Sunday’s competition with a toss of 193’ 9.” In other noteworthy throwing efforts, Harper Boche placed third in the women’s shot put (43’ 8 ½”), Josiah Edwards placed sixth in the men’s discus (177’ 7”), Emma Kucera placed sixth in the women’s javelin (124’), Marissa Heins placed seventh in the women’s shot put (42’ ¾”) and Halee Nickels placed 13th in the women’s discus (135’ 7”) in her first collegiate outdoor meet.
The school record holder in the indoor and outdoor triple jump, the sophomore McCarter turned in two top-five placements at the Central Nebraska Challenge, finishing second in the triple jump (38’ 3 ½”) and fifth in the long jump (17’ 9 ¾”). Nyanok followed closely in seventh in the long jump (17’ 4 ¾”). Elsewhere in the field events, Kayla Svoboda cleared 11 feet (11’ 1”) in the pole vault while Micah Heins came in just under 14 feet on the men’s side of the vault.
A native of Tomball, Texas, Avery Eaves continues to stand out as a freshman. He clocked times of 10.61 in the 100 meters (second) and 21.79 in the 200 meters (ninth) on Sunday. Eaves' time in the 100 meters missed the school record (by Quinton Furr in 2001) by .01 seconds. Also in the 100 meters, teammate Xavier Marburger crossed the finish line in 10.85 seconds (10th place). Those two Bulldogs were part of a 4x1 (along with Perry Chadwick and Ben Sullivan) that ran 41.87 (fastest for the program since 2022) for a first-place claim at the Central Nebraska Challenge.
In the 400 meters, Kirchner sisters Kayla (58.41) and Tayden (58.56) both ran well under a minute and placed fifth and seventh, respectively. In moving to the mid-distances, Ashley Robertson (2:24.25) on the women’s side and Lucas Corwin (1:55.00) turned in strong 800-meter performances. Corwin was also part of the 4x4 that ended the evening with a time of 3:23.14. He was joined on the relay by Garret Durkop, Trenton Kumm and Cooper Schelkopf.
The 5,000-meter races were loaded with Bulldogs in Kearney. Sophomore Alison Stepanek placed second on the women’s side in a time of 19:23.69. On the men’s side, Concordia held down the third through sixth placings, courtesy of Aidan Limback, Ransom Watts, Vaughn Hendrickson and Trey Robertson. Limback went sub-16 minutes (15:59.25). In the 1,500 meters, Trevor Kuncl clocked in at 4:16.97.
Beisel added a description of how the Bulldogs are honoring their teammates involved in the recent tragedy. Assistant coach Greta Corneliusen purchased tiny gold wings that could be fastened to each athletes’ shoes with a red ribbon (in honor of Wing). The coaches and athletes also wore green ribbons on their shirts and jerseys in support of Ramirez.
Said Beisel, “We’ve had a tremendous outpouring from all the coaches that we know. They’ve called us and written us cards. I think we’ve gotten cards from every team in the conference. One team sent us flowers. It’s been really heartfelt. We couldn’t be more grateful. At this meet, every coach came up to tell us they were praying for us. It’s been an amazing response from the greater community, in addition to the incredible response that’s happened at Concordia.”
National qualifying standards achieved at Central Nebraska Challenge
· A – Adrianna Rodencal: 100-meter hurdles (13.55); 400-meter hurdles (59.32)
· B – Women’s 4x100-meter relay (46.99)
· B – Nathan Baldwin: hammer throw (185’ 3”); discus (164’ 4”)
· B – Emry Gutz: javelin (193’ 9”)
Next up, the Bulldogs are scheduled to host the Concordia Invitational on April 2-3. The tentative meet schedule can be found HERE. The Concordia Invite is one of two home meets on this season’s outdoor slate.