SEWARD, Neb. – Courtesy of their efforts at last week’s Polar Dog Invite, two Bulldogs have collected weekly honors from the GPAC. On Wednesday (Jan. 23), the conference named senior Nathan Matters the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Men’s Track Athlete of the Week and junior Addie Shaw the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Women’s Field Athlete of the Week. Concordia has now won back-to-back GPAC men’s track weekly awards with Josiah McAllister having been honored on Jan. 16.
Shaw, a native of Bassett, Neb., may very well push for national titles in the shot put and weight throw. She took over the NAIA national lead in the weight throw last week with her personal best toss of 60’ 6 ¾.” Shaw also turned in a season best of 46’ ¾” in the shot put, which ranks No. 5 on the NAIA national list. On the school’s all-time indoor performance lists, Shaw ranks fourth in both the shot put and weight throw. She is the returning discus national champion and a three-time All-American (two top-three finishes in the shot put).
Matters has risen to the top of the GPAC leaderboard in the 600 meters via his national qualifying performance at the Polar Dog Invite. The Overland Park, Kan., native galloped to a first place finish in a time of 1:21.89 (fifth best in the NAIA). That time was just off his personal best (seventh best in school history) achieved at the 2017 GPAC indoor championships. Matters also ran a leg for the men’s 4x400 meter relay that clocked a ‘B’ standard qualifying time of 3:23.34 – No. 1 in the GPAC and No. 8 in the NAIA.
Matters, Shaw and the rest of the Bulldogs will return to action at the Concordia Classic, which will run this Thursday and Friday inside the Fieldhouse. The tentative meet schedule can be viewed HERE.
2019 GPAC athletes of the week
Jan. 23 – Nathan Matters (track); Addie Shaw (field)
Jan. 16 – Josiah McAllister (track)