The month of March has included incredible highs and lows for Concordia University, Nebraska Track & Field. In the most recent day of competition, which took place at the NAIA Indoor National Championships, Adrianna Rodencal realized a dream as she won the 60-meter hurdle national title. Rodencal starred all indoor season, dominating the hurdles in every meet along the way.
From a team perspective, the Bulldog men’s and women’s teams placed third at the 2026 GPAC indoor meet and then finished on the edges of the top 30 at the NAIA Championships in Gainesville, Fla. Three Concordia athletes emerged as All-Americans.
Said 10th-year Head Coach Matt Beisel, “We are very blessed by a God who has given us these coaches, staff and athletes here at Concordia. They are just awesome people. We had 21 athletes (in Gainesville), and they had a great time cheering each other on, supporting each other and having fun while getting some serious work done. Overall, it was a success. We had people who didn’t make finals have some of the best performances of their lives. We also had disappointments just like every meet. They have more opportunities heading into outdoor.”
Just a day after Beisel made the above comments, a tragic car accident occurred that left the track & field programs mourning the loss of a teammate, Matthew Wing. As the outdoor season gets underway, the Bulldogs will compete with heavy hearts.
The circumstances have meant Beisel and his staff have spent extra time caring for and supporting their athletes. Beisel’s staff features full-time assistants in Ed McLaughlin and Mark Samuels along with veteran pole vault coach Jason Berry, in addition to Darien Semedo, Steve Hoger and Greta Corneliusen.
WOMEN
Head Coach: Matt Beisel (10th year); 12x GPAC Coach of the Year
2025 Outdoor Finishes: 2nd (GPAC); 9th (NAIA)
2026 Indoor Finishes: 3rd (GPAC); T-31st (NAIA)
Past All-Americans returning (indoor/outdoor): Kayla Kirchner (3); Josi Noble (1); Adrianna Rodencal (5).
2025 All-Americans lost (indoor/outdoor): Abby Gerber (4); Isabelle Salters (2); Gretchen Stottlemyre (1); Trinity Tuls (5); Abi Wohlgemuth (2).
2026 Indoor National Qualifiers: Hannah Beintema; Harper Boche; Kayla Kirchner; Tayden Kirchner; Adysen McCarter; Josi Noble; Adrianna Rodencal; Makenna Starkey.
Women’s Outlook
What more can Adrianna Rodencal do? She checked off another box in her distinguished career with the 60-meter hurdle national championship she achieved in a personal best and school record time of 8.25. Even in light of such an accomplishment, no one has to question the motivation of Rodencal, now a five-time NAIA All-American. She is driven to ascend to greater heights.
“She’s come a long way,” Beisel said. “In high school, she was very successful. When she got here to Concordia, she also had immediate success, but there were some ups and downs. She started really dialing into making sure she was putting all the pieces together and has continued to build a strong and deep rapport with Coach Samuels. She has matured in a lot of ways. It took until her junior year to place fourth in the 60 hurdles after missing the finals indoor and outdoor by .01 seconds (as a sophomore). She had to really work for three years. I was just so happy for her.”
Rodencal and 16 of her teammates contributed to the point scoring at the ’26 GPAC indoor meet as the Bulldogs placed third in the conference. As Rodencal kept resetting the school standard in the 60 hurdles, sophomore Adysen McCarter did the same in the triple jump (PR of 39’ 6”) and freshman Makenna Starkey equaled the program standard in the high jump (5’ 7”). Both rising stars will be motivated after falling short of the All-America podium in Gainesville.
Concordia will also strive to take a run at a return to All-America status in the 4x400-meter relay, a perennially strong event for the program. Senior Kayla Kirchner is a three-time All-American in the 4x4 and helps form the nucleus of the group along with the likes of McCarter, Rodencal and Kayla’s sister Tayden Kirchner. Josi Noble also ran a leg of the 4x4 at indoor nationals and is a past All-American in the event. Many of those same athletes figure to team up on the 4x1 (which placed second in the GPAC in 2025).
Overall depth is a strength in the throws, as evidenced by the Bulldogs ranking top five for indoor in the women’s shot put and weight throw (according to the USTFCCCA event squad ratings). Harper Boche is now a three-time national qualifier having advanced to this past indoor national meet in the weight throw. There are big shoes to fill from outdoor last season when Abi Wohlgemuth won a GPAC title in the hammer throw and Abby Gerber was the national runner up in the shot put. Carissa Kolle is a returning All-GPAC honoree in the discus while Marissa Heins and Brittni Kinne joined Boche with ’26 indoor all-conference medals.
Of the 22 Concordia women’s athletes who earned all-conference awards last outdoor season, 14 return to the 2026 roster. That list includes horizontal jumps standouts in McCarter, Hayley Miles, Noble and Kiki Nyanok. In the pole vault, plenty of Bulldogs are capable of scoring at the conference meet with the group including previous All-GPAC award winners in Aliana McNair, Cassie Peatrowsky, Lillee Richard and Kayla Svoboda. The heptathlon is also a strength with Kennedee Canales, Emma Kucera, Noble and Addie Reimer back in the mix.
On the track, freshman Ashley Robertson is fresh off indoor all-conference honors in the 1,000 meters. Sophomores Annaka Schlachter and Allison Stepanek are leaders in the distance crew. In the racewalk, Hannah Beintema will try her hand in the 5,000 meters after qualifying for indoor nationals. Beintema has also experienced cross country nationals. Star distance Keeli Green, a 2025 cross country All-American, is not certain whether she will compete in outdoor track as she makes her way back to full strength.
After placing second in the 400-meter hurdles and third in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2025 NAIA Outdoor Championships, Rodencal has the ability to add another national championship to her resume. If the Bulldogs can supplement the work of Rodencal in the hurdles, they have the potential to push for a top 10 national team finish in Asheville, N.C., this May.
MEN
Head Coach: Matt Beisel (10th year); 12x GPAC Coach of the Year
2025 Outdoor Finishes: 4th (GPAC); 67th (NAIA)
2026 Indoor Finishes: 3rd (GPAC); T-33rd (NAIA)
Past All-Americans returning (indoor/outdoor): Nathan Baldwin (2); Jonny Jurchen (2); Mayson Ostermeyer (2).
2025 All-Americans lost (indoor/outdoor): None.
2026 Indoor National Qualifiers: Nathan Baldwin; Lucas Corwin; Josiah Edwards; Jack Habegger; Luke Hammang; Evan Hill; Jax Jacobson; Jonny Jurchen; Hayden Kluthe; Trenton Kumm; Trevor Kuncl; Justin Sherman; Keith Siek.
Men’s Outlook
The racewalk has returned to Concordia in emphatic fashion. The Bulldogs ended the indoor season boasting the top men’s racewalk crew in the NAIA as sophomore Jonny ‘The Jet’ Jurchen picked up the second All-America award of his career. Both Jurchen and thrower Nathan Baldwin capped the indoor season by stepping up on the All-America podium.
From Coach Beisel’s men’s program, 24 Bulldogs claimed All-GPAC medals and 13 earned trips to the national meet this past indoor season. Collectively, they helped pile up 113 team points at the conference meet, good for third place.
The Jet keeps shaving time off his personal bests in the racewalk. At the national meet in Gainesville, Jurchen broke former national champion Chris Tegtmeier’s school record by finishing the 3,000-meter race in 12:14.38. Freshman Jack Habegger also advanced to the national finals and placed ninth (12:58.00) while Luke Hammang placed 17th in rounding out a deep crew of walkers. Jurchen got a head start on this outdoor season with a personal best and automatic national qualifying time (22:28.39) in the 5,000-meter race walk at the Grand View Viking Relays.
“Jonny has really worked on his technique a lot with Coach Hoger,” Beisel said. “He’s done a great job. They went to a clinic in Ohio in November to work on some things with Olympic level experts. They tweaked some things for all of our walkers. Jonny broke Chris Tegtmeier’s school record, which was the national record back in 2011. With Jack, he’s never racewalked before this year. He’s really clicked with it.”
One of the more thrilling moments of the past indoor season came in the national championship finals of the weight throw. On his last throw, Baldwin moved from ninth to third place with a gargantuan personal best of 63’ 4.” The Sutton, Neb., native was also a discus All-American in 2025.
Said Beisel of Baldwin’s achievement, “That was one of the coolest things, and another one of my favorites from the meet. At conference two weeks earlier, he threw a personal best to qualify for nationals. He was in ninth place through his first two throws of the finals, and then on his last throw, he threw almost a meter-and-a-half farther than his PR that got him to nationals. What a clutch performance.”
Another school record was reset on the men’s side this past indoor season as Hayden Kluthe blazed to a 60-meter hurdles time of 8.25. Kluthe and Braxton Borer lead the hurdles group. In the sprints, budding freshman Avery Eaves challenged the school record in the 60 meters. He was the GPAC runner up in the 60 and 200 meters and has a bright future ahead. Eaves hopes to soon become a national qualifier for the first time.
The men’s program also boasts strength in the middle distances, as evidenced by the efforts of the team’s 4x800-meter relay at the indoor national meet. The quartet of Keith Siek, Trenton Kumm, Lucas Corwin and Justin Sherman clocked a season best of 7:41.34 in Gainesville. Trevor Kuncl joined the group as an alternate at nationals. In the longer distances, cross country stars Vaughn Hendrickson and Trey Robertson are capable of running with the best in the GPAC.
Baldwin (2025 GPAC discus champion) headlines a throws group that includes reigning GPAC javelin champion Emry Gutz. Baldwin placed top four in the GPAC in three throwing events in 2025. School javelin record holder Matthew Boyer will compete unattached this spring (as he did indoor). An indoor qualifier in the weight throw, Josiah Edwards will attempt to punch his ticket in outdoor. Stephen Meisel (javelin) is another returning All-GPAC performer.
Elsewhere in the field events, the pole vault made major strides as indoor season wore on. Evan Hill and Jax Jacobson both qualified for nationals while creeping closer to the 16-foot mark. The group will be a strength even without All-American and GPAC champion Mayson Ostermeyer (redshirt). In the jumps, triple jump standout Aaron Spivey endured an unfortunate injury during indoor. In picking up the slack, Xavier Marburger garnered all-conference honors in the indoor triple jump. In the multi-events, Dylan Brei, Hank Moore and David Unruh continue to progress as All-GPAC athletes.
The depth of the roster made the Bulldogs a top-three team in the GPAC this past indoor season. Concordia is optimistic that it can remain in the mix and move up the ladder nationally this spring.
2026 Schedule: To view the complete Concordia Track & Field schedule, click HERE. For the first time, the NAIA Outdoor Championships will be held in Asheville, N.C. (Karl Straus Track).