Track and field has big weekend with competitions in Lincoln, Crete

Photo description: Concordia runner stays just ahead of a Morningside competitor. 

Photo credit: Courtney Wright (photo from previous competition)

Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

The Concordia track and field team competed in two events this weekend with the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln and the Fred Beile Classic in Crete.

For the whole day there were six golds, nine silvers, and 10 bronzes. Furthermore, there were four more automatic qualifiers for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Indoor Track and Field Championships held at the end of the month.

Only a select few Bulldogs competed in Lincoln and only one managed to make the podium. Junior Jenna Esch won second in the women’s 600-meter run with a time of 1:33.52. She was narrowly beaten out by Addison Brooks of University of Kansas by seven milliseconds.

As for Crete, all of the new national qualifiers raced here. There were no new field qualifiers.

Junior Julie McIntyre started off the meet for the Bulldogs with a qualifying first place win of 17:55.91 in the women’s 5,000-meter run. The men swept the podium in their 5k with freshman Trey Robertson taking the win with a 15:53.88. Junior Jack Ellis (15:59.83) was second and freshman Aidan Limback (16:11.21) was third.

The mile run was the next big event for Concordia with seniors Calvin Rohde and Kylahn Freiberg each taking first and qualifying for nationals. Rohde won with a time of 4:15.36 and Freiberg with a 5:03.42. Sophomore Trevor Kuncl won third in the men’s mile run with a 4:28.72 and junior Rhaya Kaschinske won second in the women’s mile with a 5:22.38.

Freiberg competed later in the day and won the women’s 3,000-meter run as well with a nationally qualifying time of 10:14.58. Sophomore Hannah Beintema followed behind her in second with a 10:50.27. In the men’s 3k, junior Nathan Pennekamp (9:12.52) and sophomore Westley Determan (9:18.81) won second and third respectively.

In the women’s 1,000-meter run, junior Jaiden Tweton won second with a time of 3:18.48 and freshman Kelsie Heins won third with a time of 3:22.17. Freshman Nate Nelson won third in the men’s 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:50.10.

Freshman Claire Beikmann won third in the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:30.02. Sophomore Josi Noble won second in the women’s 600-meter run with a time of 1:41.39.

Junior Isabelle Salters was the lone sprinter to make the podium. She won third in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.93.

Senior Amy Richert took third in the women’s pentathlon with a final score of 2,642 points.

In the field portion, sophomore Hayley Miles led amongst the Concordia jumpers with a win in the women’s long jump. She finished with a 17’9.50” jump. Freshman Zoey Walker won second in the women’s high jump, finishing with a 5’6” vertical. Sophomore Mayson Ostermeyer took third in the men’s pole vault with a jump of 14’3.25”.

Junior Abigail Gerber and senior Kamryn Pokorney won second and third in the women’s shot put respectively to round out the meet. Gerber had a 43’10.00” throw and Pokorney had a 42’9.75” throw.

The Bulldogs return home for one final meet before the Great Plains Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships with the Concordia University Indoor Invite on Feb. 9 with events scheduled to begin at noon.