SEWARD, Neb. – In a meet moved up to beat the wintry-like weekend forecast, the Concordia University track and field program played the role of host for the first time this outdoor season. Temperatures soared into the 60s for the annual Concordia Outdoor Invite, which featured athletes from seven different institutions that converged on Thursday (April 5). Samantha Liermann starred once again and two Bulldogs earned event titles.
Head coach Matt Beisel saw room for improvement, but he liked what was accomplished on the track from many of his middle distance and long distance runners.
“Our distance and middle distance kids had phenomenal days,” Beisel said. “We had personal bests and a lot of huge breakthroughs. I’m really proud of them. Cody Williams ran 15.1 in the 110 hurdles which was huge. There was a lot of progress made from last week in the running events. It makes sense with not having to deal with 20 mile-per-hour winds. We had some good stuff in the field events, too. Jessica Deterding went over 37 feet in the triple jump.”
Meet-to-meet, no Bulldog has been more reliable in 2018 than Liermann, who boosted her NAIA best mark in the shot put to 48’ 9 ½.” She placed second behind only a NCAA Division II competitor. Liermann also added a fresh automatic national qualifying mark with her throw of 166 feet in the hammer and put up a ‘B’ standard in the discus (140’ 3”) as part of an all-around impressive day. Also in the women’s shot put, Adrianna Shaw moved her season best to 45’ 10 ½” (fifth best nationally).
An All-American at the indoor national championships, Cody Williams placed as the runner up in the 110 meter hurdles. His 15.12 allowed him to creep closer to the ‘B’ standard (14.95). He also took part in the 400 hurdles and the pole vault as part of a busy day.
Elsewhere on the track, Josiah McAllister finished second in the 800 meters while clocking in at 1:57.49, just in front of a rival from Doane. In longer distances, Rebekah Hinrichs placed third in a personal best of 5:02.72 in the 1,500 meters and Taylor Grove finished third with a time of 19:08.95 in the 5,000 meters. Beisel was also pleased with improvements in the 5k on the men’s side where Jordan Lorenz (16:22.46) paced the team.
Deterding put herself on the board with a ‘B’ standard in the triple jump last week. She jumped beyond 37 feet for the second week in a row and placed third. Just behind her was teammate Leah Larson (36’ 5 ¾”).
Seward High School product Mika Brees claimed a win in the 200 meters with a time of 26.31. She placed fifth in the 100 meters, finishing in 12.87. Another first-place finish went to Benjamin Pratt, who cleared 6’ 4 ¾” in the high jump.
Up next for the Bulldogs is the Grand View University Quad in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, April 14. At this point, Concordia is roughly a month out from the GPAC outdoor championships that will take place in Sioux City, Iowa.