April 26 USTFCCA NAIA Rating Index: Men | Women
SEWARD, Neb. – As a precursor to the 2023 GPAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Concordia athletes will be headed to the 2023 Darke Relays and the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolf Invitational in what will be week six of the outdoor season. Head Coach Matt Beisel’s squads are coming off an outing last week at the Dutcher Memorial Classic hosted by Doane. The Bulldogs came away with six event championships, a couple fresh automatic national qualifying times and four heptathlon point totals that met the minimum national reporting standard. The first action at the Drake Relays will get underway early in the evening on Thursday.
Meet Info
Drake Relays
April 27-29 | Drake Stadium (Des Moines, Iowa)
--Meet Homepage | Live Results
Prairie Wolf Invitational
April 28-29 | Woody Greeno Track (Lincoln, Neb.)
--Meet Schedule (PDF) | Live Results
In this week’s NAIA Rating Index released by the USTFCCCA, the Bulldogs achieved national rankings of 19th on the women’s side and 29th on the men’s side. The ratings are calculated based on the marks and times recorded so far this outdoor season, as reported to TFRRS. Through five weeks of outdoor competition, Concordia athletes have combined for nine ‘A’ standards and 12 ‘B’ standards. Five auto marks were put on the board at the Central Nebraska Challenge on April 1. Below is a listing of the automatic national qualifying standards.
· Women’s 4x400m Relay – A (3:53.60)
· Jenna Esch – A, 400 Meters (56.74)
· Jordan Koepke – A, 400 Hurdles (1:02.71)
· Erin Mapson – A, Pole Vault (11’ 11 ¾”)
· Josie Puelz – A, Pole Vault (12’ 7 ½”)
· Adrianna Rodencal – A, 100 Hurdles (14.15)
· Darien Semedo – A, Hammer Throw (184’ 4”)
· Chris Wren – A, Hammer Throw (189’ 10”)
· Zach Zohner – A, Pole Vault (16’ 5 ¼”)
Concordia will be represented at the Drake Relays by Wyatt Loga in the high jump, Rachel Battershell and Jenna Esch in the 400 meters and by a series of relay groups. The Bulldogs have entries into the women’s 4x100, 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 meter relays and the men’s 4x400 meter relay. The schedule for those events can be found at bottom.
The newest Bulldog additions to the national qualifying field were Jenna Esch (400 meters) and the women’s 4x400 meter relay, which included Esch. As a result of her efforts at the Dutcher Memorial, Esch was recognized as the GPAC Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week. Esch ran a personal best of 56.74 in the 400 meters (third fastest in program history). Esch was joined in the 4x4 by Kayla Kirchner, Trinity Tuls and Rachel Battershell. They combined to run a time of 3:53.60.
Meanwhile, new ‘B’ standards were produced at the Dutcher Memorial by the women’s 4x100 meter relay (47.92), Carson Fehlhafer in the discus (159’) and Wyatt Loga in the high jump (6’ 8 ¾”). Improvements were made on existing automatic national qualifying marks by Josie Puelz in the pole vault (12’ 7 ½”) and by Chris Wren in the hammer throw (189’ 10”). In the women’s heptathlon, four Bulldogs met the minimum national reporting standard: Amy Richert (4,106), Amanda Steinke (4,040), Faith Espinosa (3,997) and Josi Noble (3,974).
Concordia schedule at the Drake Relays:
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – Women’s 4x800m Relay (finals)
Friday, 9:18 a.m. – Women’s 4x100m Relay (prelims)
Friday, 11:30 a.m. – Wyatt Loga, high jump
Friday, 3:03 p.m. – Women’s 4x400m Relay (prelims)
Friday, 3:26 p.m. – Men’s 4x400m Relay (prelims)
Friday, 4:26 p.m. - Rachel Battershell/Jenna Esch, 400 meters
Friday, 7:22 p.m. – Women’s 4x200m Relay (finals)
Saturday, 4:19 p.m. – Women’s 4x100m Relay (finals)
Saturday, 4:55 p.m. – Women’s 4x400m Relay (finals)
Saturday, 5:20 p.m. – Men’s 4x400m Relay (finals)
The 2023 GPAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be hosted in Sioux Center, Iowa, by Dordt in Open Space Park on May 5-6. The meet schedule can be found via the GPAC website HERE.