SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia University track and field athletes are back into the swing of things with the indoor season having resumed last week. After competing in Lincoln and Crete in recent action, the Bulldogs will spend the rest of the month of January inside the friendly confines of the Fieldhouse. Head coach Matt Beisel’s program will host the Concordia Polar Dog Invite this Saturday.
Athletes from the following visiting institutions will be on hand on Saturday: Concordia University-Irvine, Doane, Hastings, MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) and Mount Marty. Concordia-Irvine is led by head coach Keegan Bloomfield, a CUNE alum.
The first NAIA computer ratings from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will not be released until next Wednesday (Jan. 29). It’s still early, but the Bulldogs would expect to rank highly at this point. So far this indoor season, Concordia has accumulated 10 automatic national qualifying marks and 15 ‘B’ standards and has three athletes who rank in the top five nationally in the multi-events. Two Bulldogs are current NAIA event leaders: Jacob Cornelio (weight throw) and Josie Puelz (pole vault). Meanwhile, senior Adrianna Shaw ranks second in the women’s shot put (46’ 6 ¼”) and juniors Kennedy Mogul (pentathlon) and Cody Williams (heptathlon) also sit second in the NAIA.
It’s only roughly a month out from the GPAC indoor championships. A potential GPAC champion in multiple events, sophomore Rachel Battershell is well on her way to putting together a fine collegiate career. The sophomore from Wheatland, Wyo., broke her own school record in the 60 meter hurdles last week by running a time of 9.00 in the prelims. She easily out-paced the competition in the finals of the Nisely Memorial Classic by running in 9.02. While not a performance that put her on the national leaderboard, Battershell also won the 600 meters at the Nisely Classic with her time of 1:39.28. Battershell is the current GPAC leader in the 60 meter hurdles, 400 meters and 600 meters.
The Polar Dog Invite will mark the second home meet of the season. Concordia also put on the Early Bird Meet back on Dec. 13-14. Nine automatic national qualifying performances came out of that meet, which featured competitors from five other institutions.
The Bulldogs will remain at home to host the Concordia Classic on Jan. 30-31. The final home meet of the indoor season will be the Concordia Invite on Feb. 14.