Sower sports roundup, Feb. 24

By Maddy Peters, Sports Editor

If you missed Concordia University Nebraska sports this week, here is what happened.

There may not have been a track and field meet this weekend, but that does not mean there was no news. Head coach Matt Beisel was awarded Great Plains Athletic Conference 2024 Jim McMahon Women’s Track and Field Coach of the Year. This is the 11th time Beisel has been given this award while he has coached for Concordia. 46 Bulldogs were given all-conference awards for the indoor season.

Beisel also received the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) 2024 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Midwest Region Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year award. This is the ninth time he has won this award during his time at Concordia.

These awards come just ahead of the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships held in Brookings, S.D. from Feb. 29-March 2. Concordia is sending 32 athletes to the campus of South Dakota State University.

Concordia men’s tennis faced a crushing defeat to the Kansas Wesleyan University Coyotes, getting swept 7-0 on Feb. 22 in Grand Island. Freshman Michael Bedrosian and junior Manuel Rodriguez Berdud were the only Bulldogs to have a fighting chance taking their singles matches to three sets. The team now has a 2-5 record for the season. They face University of Saint Mary on Feb. 29.

Concordia women’s tennis had two matches. They went with the men’s team to face Kansas Wesleyan winning 5-2 and pivoted to St. Joseph Mo. to face the Missouri Western State University Griffons losing 7-0. The team is now 3-3 for the season and also heads to face University of Saint Mary on Feb. 29.

Against Kansas Wesleyan, Concordia started off by taking the doubles point with a 2-1 score. The singles went similarly well with sophomores Mariana Molano and Alana Lopez Pagan and freshmen Chakira Derman and Alexa Richert winning. Junior Brooke Hosick took her match to three sets but ended up losing the game in the end.

Missouri Western’s takedown was swift. The NCAA Div. II team swept the doubles matches, foreshadowing a rough matchup for the Bulldogs. Derman and junior Tessa Blough ended unfinished. Derman put up an incredible fight, almost taking her match to the third set, but lost a tiebreaker point in the second.

Concordia softball played a double header against the University of Saint Mary Spires on Feb. 24 in Leavenworth, Kan. winning the first game 7-2, but losing the second 13-1. The team is now 2-6 and next plays a double header against Benedictine College on Feb. 25.

Junior Zoie Isom was the Dawg to watch in the first game. She started off the game with a double that sent junior Kylie Shottenkirk and freshman Laycee Josoff home to score. She would later hit a homer in the fifth. Josoff did not have too bad of a game herself with a home run in the second inning that sent two Bulldogs home. Junior Megan Eurich was the pitcher credited with the win with five hits for two runs, four strikeouts and recording one error.

The second game was an entirely different story as the Spires rallied for a rout. Freshman Aubriana Krieser scored the lone run for Concordia off a single from fellow freshman Madison Cushing. Freshman Kaylei Denison was the pitcher credited with the loss with four hits for five runs, zero strikeouts and five errors. Two more pitchers, senior Brooke Townsend and sophomore Taryn Ganstrom would step up to the mound, but both suffered similar stats. Ganstrom managed to pull together two strikeouts.

Concordia baseball went up against the Culver-Stockton College Wildcats as part of a weekend four game series playing the first two on Feb. 24 in Fort Scott, Kan. They routed Culver-Stockton in both games going 23-6 in the first and 17-2 in the second. Unfortunately, the exact results are unknown, no box scores have been released by either team. The Bulldogs now sit at a 6-3 record and play the Wildcats again on Feb. 25 to finish off the series in Fort Scott.