SEWARD, Neb. – A smaller scale meet, compared to the Bulldog Early Bird, unfolded on Friday (Jan. 23) inside the Walz Fieldhouse. Seven institutions were represented at the Concordia Polar Dog Invite, which was highlighted by a new indoor personal best and school/meet record by Adysen McCarter and a near program standard setting performance from Hayden Kluthe. Additionally, 11 Concordia University, Nebraska Track & Field athletes emerged with Polar Dog Invite event championships. Myles Sadd won both the long and high jumps.
The series of performances marked progress from the week prior when Head Coach Matt Beisel’s squads resumed action for the second semester.
“There were a number of personal bests and season bests and definitely an improvement for a lot of people from last week, which is what we expected and hoped for,” Beisel said. “It’s still not everything we wanted and that’s fine. This is a really high intensity time for training, because after this we start preparing for the end of the season. Once we get back from break, it is a very quick season. Some really good things happened. The hurdles went really well … I’m pretty pleased with where the kids I coach are – we put a lot of them in the 600 and 800 and had a lot of improvements.”
Kluthe reached the finals in the 60-meter hurdles last week at the University of Nebraska’s Graduate Classic. The junior from Ord, Neb., elevated his game once again on Friday while clocking 60 hurdles times of 8.16 in the prelims and 8.14 in the finals. Kluthe achieved an NAIA B qualifying standard and came up .01 seconds shy of the school record. He beat out a Polar Dog Invite field that included teammate Braxton Borer (third place at 8.51).
Said Kluthe, “I was really just hoping to go sub-8.20, so it surpassed my expectations for this meet … I’m super proud. This progress has been years in the making. I’m coming along every year. It’s exciting to see it all come together.”
From a big picture perspective, three Bulldogs repeated automatic national qualifying standards: McCarter in the triple jump (39’ 1 ¼”), Jonny Jurchen in the 3,000-meter racewalk (13:12.61) and Adrianna Rodencal in the 60-meter hurdles (8.47). The mark for McCarter represented an indoor personal best and allowed her to earn first place at the Polar Dog Invite. She is the triple jump school record holder for both indoor and outdoor.
The Lincoln Lutheran alum Rodencal never fails to perform at a high level. Not only did she win the 60 hurdles on the women’s side, she also notched a B standard in the 400 meters by placing as the runner up in a time of 57.93. Entering the weekend, Rodencal boasted the NAIA national lead in the 60 hurdles.
To cap the night, a high level racewalk competition went off. Jurchen paced a trio of Bulldogs by recording a meet record time of 13:12.61 (compared to his PR of 12:30.61). Freshman Jack Habegger, already a national qualifier in the event, eclipsed the B standard in his latest outing. On the women’s side, Six of the 11 current A/B standards on the women’s racewalk national list came out of Friday’s Polar Dog Invite.
The other not previously mentioned Polar Dog Invite champions were Avery Eaves in the 200 meters (22.39), Jax Jacobson in the pole vault (14’ 7 ¼”), Kiki Nyanok in the long jump (17’ 2”), Keith Siek in the 800 meters (1:58.39) and Makenna Starkey in the high jump (5’ 3 ¼”). The winning marks for Sadd were 21’ 8 ¼” in the long jump and 6’ 2 ¼” in the high jump. Concordia’s women’s 4x800-meter women’s relay ran unopposed and finished in 10:16.03.
It was a fine day for senior Kayla Svoboda, who clocked a personal best of 9.03 in the 60 hurdles (fourth place in the finals). The Wisner, Neb., native also cleared a height of 11’ 1 ¾” in the pole vault (just below the B standard). On the men’s side of the vault, Jacobson and Evan Hill both went over 14’ 7 ¼.”
In the throws, Concordia is getting closer to the marks it hopes to reach by season’s end. An outdoor All-American last season, Nathan Baldwin narrowly missed out on the B standard in the weight throw as he whirled the implement a distance of 57’ ¼” (third place). Right on his tail was Josiah Edwards (57’). On the women’s side of the weight throw, Brittni Kinne (53’ 3 ¾”) and Marissa Heins (52’ 8”) placed third and fourth, respectively, on Friday. Heins hit a personal best. In the shot put, Baldwin (50’ 2 ¾”) and Aliyah Sinn (40’ 5”) led the way.
The list of Bulldogs with runner-up finishes (not previously mentioned) at the Polar Dog included Abram Chance (mile), Eaves (60 meters), Vaughn Hendrickson (1,000 and 5,000 meters), Tayden Kirchner (600 meters), Xavier Marburger (long jump), Josi Noble (triple jump), Addie Reimer (high jump), Ashley Robertson (800 meters) and Justin Sherman (800 meters).
National qualifying standards achieved at Polar Dog Invite
· A – Jonny Jurchen: 3,000-meter racewalk (13:12.61)
· A – Adysen McCarter: triple jump (39’ 1 ¼”)
· A – Adrianna Rodencal: 60-meter hurdles (8.47)
· B – Jack Habegger: 3,000-meter racewalk (14:08.80)
· B – Hayden Kluthe: 60-meter hurdles (8.14)
· B – Adrianna Rodencal: 400 meters (57.93; converts to 57.18 on national list)
Polar Dog Invite event champions
· Women’s 4x800-meter relay (10:16.03)
· Avery Eaves: 200 meters (22.39)
· Jax Jacobson: pole vault (14’ 7 ¼”)
· Jonny Jurchen: 3,000-meter racewalk (13:12.61)
· Hayden Kluthe: 60-meter hurdles (8.14)
· Adysen McCarter: triple jump (39’ 1 ¼”)
· Kiki Nyanok: long jump (17’ 2”)
· Adrianna Rodencal: 60-meter hurdles (8.47)
· Myles Sadd: long jump (21’ 8 ¼”); high jump (6’ 2 ¼”)
· Keith Siek: 800 meters (1:58.39)
· Makenna Starkey: high jump (5’ 3 ¼”)
This season’s third home meet is on the docket for next weekend (Jan. 30-31) when the Bulldogs will host the Concordia Classic. The tentative meet schedule can be found HERE. The final home meet of the 2025-26 indoor campaign will be the Concordia Invitational on Feb. 14.
Said Beisel, “It was an overall solid meet … We’ve got the multi events again (next week) so we want to see some improvements in our multis. We are also going to offer our first distance medley relay of the season. I’m curious to see how that goes. We hope that we really start to find our groove.”