Track and Field scores 20 podium finishes at cold Concordia Invite

Photo description: CUNE thrower participating in the shotput

Photo credit: Esther Molina

Madeline Peters

Sower Staff

The Concordia track and field team participated in the Concordia Invitational Friday and Saturday. Due to weather, every running event except the 5K race walk was canceled and all jumping or vaulting events were moved indoors. Despite the condensed meet, the team had six first place finishes, five second place finishes, and nine third place finishes.

Even though field events took center stage for the day, the women’s 5K race walk was not an event to ignore. Junior Lauren Dawson won first with a time of 28:34.84 and shattered her own record previously set at the Central Nebraska Challenge in Kearney. This time currently qualifies her for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Outdoor Championships with a “B” standard. Junior Peyton Gissler also competed in the race walk and won third with a time of 33:07.83.

Sophomore Hannah Newton won first in the women’s high jump after tying with University of Sioux Falls’ Abbi Webb. Newton finished with a jump of 1.60 meters. Junior Wyatt Loga won second in the men’s high jump with a jump of 2.00 meters.

The pole vaulting duo of junior Josie Puelz and senior Erin Mapson took the top two placements in the women’s pole vault. Puelz won with a jump of 3.75 meters with Mapson just behind at 3.65 meters. Junior Zach Zohner won second in the men’s pole vault with a jump of 4.82 meters and was beat out by the unattached Tyler Lootjner, who won first with a 5.25-meter jump.

Freshman Hayley Miles won second in the women’s long jump with a jump of 5.51 meters. Junior Kellie Rhodes won third in the same event with a jump of 5.24 meters. Junior Joel Rathe, meanwhile, won first in the men’s long jump with a score of 7.14 meters. Freshman Myles Sadd won second behind Rathe with a jump of 6.91 meters. Freshman Josi Noble won third in the women’s triple jump with a score of 11.02 meters.

Junior Erin Painter won third in the women’s discus with a throw of 41.06 meters. Freshman Carson Fehlhafer took first in the men’s discus with a throw of 46.95 meters. Junior Austen Rozelle won third in the men’s discus with a throw of 43.83 meters.

Sophomore Gretchen Stottlemyre won third in the women’s javelin with a throw of 36.08 meters. Freshman Matthew Boyer once again came out on top of the men’s javelin with a throw of 54.81 meters.

Junior Kamryn Pokorney won third in the women’s shot put with a throw of 12.98 meters. Sophomore Connor Asche won third in the men’s shot put with a throw of 14.40 meters. Finally, junior Chris Wren won third in the men’s hammer throw with a score of 57.12 meters.

Coach Matt Beisel was pleased with the work the field team, Dawson and Gissler put in on Saturday saying, “I think it went great! We were hoping to do a lot more, and at the same time we managed to salvage the day with some good performances across the different event areas.”

The weather was dreary, cold and windy Saturday afternoon and there was a chance for storms as well. The only moisture that came from the day was a drizzle, but the decision to cancel the running events came Friday morning. Beisel elaborated on this decision stating, “The forecast on Wednesday looked good enough to hold the meet, [but] it started to deteriorate rapidly on Thursday and by Friday morning it shifted so badly that we saw no point in hosting running events and it became dangerous to pole vaulters and high jumpers, so we had to move indoors.”

Beisel joked about the cancellations saying, “There was this thing out on the track, it was the only important thing that happened today. Oh wait, did something happen after race walk? Did I miss anything?”

The Concordia Invitational was the only home outdoor track and field event during the school year, so this was the only opportunity the campus had to support their Bulldogs at home. Beisel was disappointed that the team was unable to have a full meet, saying, “Good to have [the meet] done, good to be able to do it… We have a great facility, so it really just kinda bums me out that we weren’t able to utilize that. We normally have really great weather for this and that didn’t happen this year.”

Track and Field athletes compete again at the Jim Dutcher Invite on April 20-22 in Crete. The next home event will be the Concordia Twilight Meet on May 12.