FREMONT, Neb. – For the second year in a row, Emry Gutz rose to the top of the GPAC podium in the javelin. His personal best performance highlighted day one (May 1) at the 2026 GPAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fremont, Neb. Additionally, Bulldogs Nathan Baldwin (hammer) and Kiki Nyanok (long jump) placed as runners up in their respective events and Adrianna Rodencal broke her own meet record in the 100-meter hurdle prelims. For both men and women, 16 of the 22 events will be scored on day two at Midland, which is hosting the conference outdoor meet for the first time since 2017.
Through Friday action, Head Coach Matt Beisel’s squads have accumulated 47.5 points on the men’s side (second place) and 35.5 points on the women’s side (third place). Concordia University, Nebraska Track & Field is coming off third place conference finishes this past indoor season.
Seeded third in the conference entering the meet, Gutz rose to the occasion on Friday afternoon. His PR of 205’ 8” (previous PR was 195’ 1”) came on his second attempt of the competition and automatically qualified him for the national championships. The Salisbury, Mo., native popped off another throw of greater than 200 feet in the finals. As a comparison, Gutz’s GPAC title winning toss last season landed at 188’ 8.” On the women’s side of the javelin, Emma Kucera scored five team points with her fourth place claim (123’ 9”).
The hammer also proved to be a fruitful event for the Bulldogs. One week after breaking out with NAIA A standard in the event, Baldwin made a run at a conference title and wound up in second place with his throw of 187’ 5.” Between men and women, there were five Concordia hammer throwers who earned all-conference placements, including Josiah Edwards (sixth) and Tyler Suer (eighth) on the men’s side and Harper Boche (fourth), Marissa Heins (sixth) and Mya Gawrych (seventh) on the women’s side.
A junior from Grand Island, Neb., Kiki Nyanok put eight team points on the board in the long jump as she landed at 17’ 6.” She has earned all-conference honors in the event for the fifth time in her career. Meanwhile, Xaver Marburger placed seventh (21’ 4 ¾”) in the men’s long jump.
There were a total of seven pole vaulters who generated top eight placements. Both Kayla Svoboda (11’ 3”) and Evan Hill (14’ 5 ¼”) took home third place claims. Other All-GPAC finishers were Micah Heins (fifth), Malaki Peoples (seventh) and David Unruh (eighth) on the men’s side and Cassie Peatrowsky (sixth) and Lillee Richard (seventh) on the women’s side. The men totaled 12.5 points and the women 9.5 points in the pole vault.
The GPAC Championships kicked off with the multi events early in the afternoon. With five of 10 events complete in the decathlon, Concordia’s Hank Moore stands in second place (3,524 points) as he attempts to position himself for a national championships berth. In the women’s heptathlon, Bulldogs Addie Reimer (2,687) and Kennedee Canales (2,546) sit fourth and sixth, respectively, with four of seven events in the books. All three Bulldog multi-event athletes will be back in action on day two.
The national champion Rodencal hopes to make the final month of her collegiate career a special one. She clocked in at 13.19 in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles for a new GPAC meet record. Her previous standard was set last season with a time of 13.66. Rodencal will return to the track on Saturday for both hurdles events. Svoboda (14.50) also qualified for the finals of the 100 hurdles.
Elsewhere on the track, sophomore Vaughn Hendrickson (a cross country All-American) placed fourth in the 10,000 meters while crossing the finish line in 31:44.98. In the 4x800-meter relays, Concordia placed third on the men’s side and sixth on the women’s side. The men put together a season best time of 7:41.01 for a fresh NAIA B standard. The group was made up of Keith Siek, Trenton Kumm, Justin Sherman and Lucas Corwin. The women’s 4x8 featured Landri Loos, Ashley Robertson, Claire Beikmann and Izzy Brumbaugh. In the sprints, freshman Avery Eaves has qualified for the finals of the 100-meter dash (10.79).
2026 GPAC Outdoor Champions
NOTE: six of 22 events were scored for both men and women on day one.
· Emry Gutz: javelin (205’ 8”)
The conference meet will resume with multi events on Saturday morning in Fremont. The bulk of the action will take place after noon. The meet schedule can be found HERE.