Haecker, Sesna and Rhode Qualify for Cross Country Nationals
by Keaton Burgess
The bulldog’s cross-country team competed at the Great Plains Athletic Conference Championship meet on Saturday and had two men and one woman qualify for the National Association Intercollegiate Athletics national meet.
Sophomore Rylee Haecker led the way for the Bulldogs with a time of 19:19 as she qualified for the national meet.
“I felt pretty good about the race today. It was a tough course with some tough competition,” said Haecker. “I am also super excited to compete at Nationals. God continually showed through this year and His faithfulness continually shows through every race, whether good or bad. So thankful for Concordia and the family that this team has become.”
For the men’s side, junior Camden Sesna led the bulldogs with a time of 26:34 and qualified for the national meet. Sophomore Calvin Rhode also qualified for the national meet running a time of 26:58. Sesna said he thought the team did well for being so young.
“With how the race went today, we were hoping for better results as a team and are definitely dissatisfied,” said Sesna. “However, I don’t think anyone has a reason to be ashamed of how they ran today.”
As qualifying for nationals, Sesna is excited.
“As far as Calvin and I qualifying for nationals, we are ecstatic. All of the pressure that we had been feeling leading up to the meet was instantly removed when we crossed the line,” said Sesna. “We wish the rest of the team could have made it with us, but we’ll do our best to represent the team the best we can.”
Haecker, Sesna, and Rhode will compete at the NAIA national meet on Nov. 19.
