SEWARD, Neb. – As part of homecoming festivities on the Concordia University, Nebraska campus, six individuals and one team took their place in the Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame. The new class of Hall of Famers was officially inducted at a ceremony held on Friday (Sept. 27).
For additional details on the Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame, click HERE.
Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024
Audra (Nothwehr) Anderson ’01 | Women’s Tennis / Volleyball
Audra (Nothwehr) Anderson ranks amongst the top tennis players in Concordia’s history. Anderson starred for teams coached by Dr. Mark Lemke while earning four consecutive first team all-conference awards from 1997-98 through 2000-01. Originally from Clarinda, Iowa, Anderson was honored as the 1999-2000 Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference (NIAC) Player of the Year. The two-sport standout also lettered four times for the Bulldog Volleyball team while being coached by Diane Mendenhall and Becky (Ernstmeyer) Loewe. Anderson garnered two NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards for both tennis and volleyball. Following her playing career, Anderson went on to become a successful head coach. She collected a total of four conference coach of the year awards between her tenures at NAIA Lindsey Wilson College and NCAA Division I Southern Illinois University. Her overall collegiate head coaching record stands at 311-137.
Anderson graduated from Concordia with a BA in Fitness and Sport Management. She proceeded to earn her M. Ed from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Post Secondary Athletics. Audra is married to Myles Anderson and is the mother of Jemma and Max. The family resides in Carbondale, Illinois. Since 2017, Audra has owned and operated the Anderson Tennis Academy. She is active in her church as a Sunday school teacher and as a leader of vacation Bible school. She also owns professional memberships as part of the United States Tennis Association, American Volleyball Coaches Association and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Said Audra of her time at Concordia, “Being a part of Concordia and the friends that I met there made me into a strong person with solid values and a great love for God and my family.”
Elizabeth (Rhoden) Dillingham ’04 | Women’s Basketball
An attacking point guard, Elizabeth (Rhoden) Dillingham piloted Concordia Women’s Basketball teams coached by Micah Parker and Todd Voss to a combined four-year record of 111-26 from the 2000-01 through 2003-04 seasons. A three-time All-GPAC honoree, Dillingham was tabbed a Second Team All-Great Plains Athletic Conference selection in 2002-03 and a first team honoree in 2003-04. She was lauded as an NAIA Division II Second Team All-American for the ’02-03 squad that set a school record with 36 wins, won the GPAC regular season title and advanced to the national semifinals. Often referred to by coaches and teammates as “Ro,” Dillingham averaged 13.7 points, 4.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game during her All-America campaign. At the time of induction, she owns program all-time career rankings of fifth in assists (492), 15th in points scored (1,337) and 16th in steals (230). Among other achievements, Dillingham was named the MVP of CIT in 2003 and was selected to the 2003 NAIA National Championship All-Tournament Team. Following her college basketball career, she played one season of soccer and was recognized with First Team All-GPAC honors in 2004. Dillingham was a defender for Coach Bill Schranz.
Dillingham graduated from Concordia with her B.A. in Journalism and Communications. Elizabeth is married to Taylor Dillingham. Together they have two children: Wade and Sage. The family resides in Houston, Texas. Elizabeth is employed by Axsome Therapeutics. During her time at Concordia, Elizabeth served as sports editor for the school newspaper and also provided color commentary alongside Frank Greene on men’s basketball and volleyball games. According to Elizabeth, Concordia helped set her priorities straight: No. 1 Christ, No. 2 family, No. 3 school and No. 4 basketball.
Kregg Einspahr ’82 | Head Coach – Cross Country / Track & Field
An original Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame inductee in 1994 for his athletic accomplishments, Dr. Kregg Einspahr now takes his place in the Hall of Fame for his coaching acumen. Einspahr presided over the Bulldog track & field and cross country programs for 24 seasons (1992-2016) while bringing Concordia to national prominence. He led the 2015 men’s outdoor and 2016 women’s outdoor track & field teams to NAIA national championships, feats that marked the first two NAIA national team titles in the history of Concordia Athletics. In addition, Einspahr coached squads that combined for 16 GPAC championships, seven NAIA national runner-up claims and 32 top 25 team finishes in cross country. Einspahr was honored as the NAIA National Coach of the Year for women’s cross country in 1999, men’s outdoor track & field in 2015 and women’s outdoor track & field in 2016. In both 2015 and 2016, Einspahr was also lauded by the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star as the Midlands/State College Coach of the Year. He was tabbed GPAC Coach of the Year 19 times between cross country and track. Einspahr coached a total of 25 individual NAIA national champions in track & field and 16 individual GPAC champions in cross country. He is an NAIA Hall of Fame member.
A six-time NAIA national champion athlete, Einspahr graduated from Concordia with his B.S. in Biology. He also earned an M.S. in Biology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. in Biology (emphasis in Biochemistry and Cell Physiology) from the University of Texas before later completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology at the Mayo Clinic. Kregg and his wife Suzanne have two sons, Jackson and Kieran. The family resides in Seward. Kregg continues to serve as Professor of Biology at Concordia and is active in the community. He volunteers his time coaching youth basketball and track. During his coaching career, Einspahr played an instrumental role in athletic facility projects that came to fruition in the form of the outdoor stadium and track and the Walz Human Performance Complex.
Ceron Francisco ’18 | Wrestling
Ceron Francisco changed the game for Concordia Wrestling when he arrived on campus via his hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Relatively inexperienced in the sport when beginning his college career, Francisco developed rapidly and reached significant heights as the NAIA’s 2017 heavyweight national runner up. Franciso also placed sixth at nationals in 2015 as a two-time NAIA All-American and three-time national qualifier. He was named the 2016-17 GPAC Wrestler of the Year thanks to a 26-2 overall record. Additionally, Francisco won GPAC heavyweight titles as a junior and senior and reached the 100-win mark (101-52 for career) as the second winningest wrestler in program history at the time of induction. The three-time All-GPAC award winner helped raise the level of the program and was a member of GPAC championship teams in 2015-16 and 2016-17. The team’s NAIA national placement of eighth in 2016 remains the best finish in the program’s history. Francisco won more than 30 matches in a season twice and notched 18 career pins. He was named the 2017-18 Concordia Senior Male Athlete of the Year. Francisco wrestled for three seasons for Head Coach Dana Vote and for one season under Head Coach Andrew Nicola.
Francisco graduated from Concordia with his B.S. in K-12 Special Education. Post college, Francisco went on to compete internationally and was a club resident athlete at the University of Virginia, Penn State University and the University of Minnesota. Francisco coached as an assistant for Vote at Doane and is currently an assistant for the wrestling program at NCAA Division I North Dakota State University. Says Ceron of his time at Concordia, “Concordia was the steppingstone in helping me discover my potential in the sport of wrestling and provided me with opportunities to develop lifelong relationships with many people.”
Frank Greene | Head Softball Coach (2001-08, 2011-13)
Coach Frank Greene has worn many hats at Concordia as a coach, teacher, play-by-play broadcaster and public address announcer. Greene joins the Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame specifically for his many achievements as the head softball coach for 11 seasons. The winningest coach in the softball program’s history, Greene compiled a career record of 293-203-1 while leading the Bulldogs to three Great Plains Athletic Conference championships. Under Greene’s direction, Concordia won the 2005 and 2008 GPAC regular season titles and captured the 2007 GPAC tournament championship. The ’05 team remains the school record holder for wins in a season (36) and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019. Greene was recognized as the GPAC and NAIA Region IV Coach of the Year in 2005. Greene’s teams enjoyed 10 winning seasons and qualified for the NAIA regional tournament six times and the GPAC tournament 10 times. He coached All-Americans in Celine Lassaigne and Samantha Hellbusch.
Greene graduated from Wayne State College with his degree in Communications and then earned his masters in Broadcasting and Rhetoric from Colorado State University. In addition to coaching, Greene has dedicated his professional career to broadcasting, teaching and business pursuits. Greene continues to lend his voice to Concordia Volleyball broadcasts on 104.9 Max Country. He taught business classes at both Concordia and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Frank and his wife Cindy reside in Seward. They have two daughters, Lana and Dara, and a son Adam. Frank and Cindy also have eight grandchildren. Said Frank of Concordia, “This is a very special place. It’s been good to me. I got to coach here, I got to teach here and I got to broadcast here. It’s been a delight.”
Katie (Werner) Loveless ’08 | Volleyball / Track & Field
A dominant athlete in both volleyball and track & field, Katie (Werner) Loveless was highly decorated student-athlete for the Bulldogs. As a volleyball player, Loveless earned all-conference honors from the Great Plains Athletic Conference all four years with second team distinction in 2004 and first team accolades in each of her final three seasons. She was referred to as “the most dominant middle blocker in the GPAC.” She accumulated 1,600 career kills (second most in school history) and 787 career blocks (most in school history) and set a program standard for blocks in a single match with 17 in 2004. She also graduated with a school record for career hitting percentage (.356). Other volleyball honors included three NAIA All-Region III awards, two NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards and Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska first team selection. As a thrower, Loveless claimed three NAIA All-America honors in the shot put and was the 2007 GPAC outdoor shot put champion. While coached by Ed McLaughlin, Loveless also recorded 11 GPAC all-conference medals and qualified for nationals a total of eight times (indoor/outdoor). At the time of graduation, Loveless owned program rankings of No. 1 in the indoor shot put, No. 2 in the weight throw, No. 2 in the outdoor shot put and No. 3 in the hammer throw. Named the 2007-08 Concordia Senior Female Athlete of the Year, Loveless was coached by Randy Krieger (one year) and Rachel Miller (three years) in volleyball.
Loveless graduated from Concordia (with distinction) with a B.S. in Business Administration and minor in Communications. Katie and her husband Luke have three children: Audrella, Miles and Ethan. The family resides in Columbus, Nebraska. Katie works as Deposit Operations Officer at the Bank of the Valley and serves as board secretary for the Optimist Club of Columbus. In reflection of her time at Concordia, Katie said, “I’m just really appreciative of having been able to do all the things. I was able to be a multi-sport athlete and still keep up with the workload. It taught me a lot of time management as part of the process.”
2004-05 Men’s Basketball
Guided by Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame Coach Grant Schmidt, the 2004-05 men’s basketball team became the first in program history to advance to a national championship game. The accomplishments for the ’04-05 squad included an NAIA Division II national runner-up trophy, a GPAC tournament championship, CIT championship and a school record 32 victories (32-6 overall, 14-4 GPAC). All-GPAC honors went to Jason Jisa (first team), Scott Beck (first team), Jon Ziegler (second team) and Marcus Wernke (honorable mention). Both Jisa and Beck were also recognized as NAIA All-Americans. In addition, Jisa was tabbed the GPAC Defensive Player of the Year and as an NAIA National Championship All-Tournament selection. At the national tournament, Wernke broke NAIA Division II tournament records for blocked shots in a single game (nine) and in a single national tournament (23).
In the national statistical rankings, Concordia landed at No. 4 in scoring defense (63.4), No. 9 in blocks per game (4.55), No. 15 in field goal percentage defense (.415) and No. 16 in scoring margin (+10.3). On the national stage in Point Lookout, Mo., the Bulldogs claimed wins over Trinity Christian University (Ill.), 74-69, Flagler College (Fla.), 70-63, Cornerstone University (Mich.), 71-68, and Cedarville University (Ohio), 62-56. The title game resulted in an 81-70 defeat at the hands of Walsh University (Ohio). Schmidt was assisted on the coaching staff by Marty Kohlwey and Ryan Kness. Ziegler finished as the team’s leading scorer with an average of 15.2 points per game.
Team Members:
Head Coach: Grant Schmidt
Assistant Coaches: Marty Kohlwey and Ryan Kness
Student Assistant: Watson Marin
Athletic Trainer: Randy Baack
Athletic Equipment and Operations Manager: Stan Schlueter
Roster: #10 Garrett Rathke, #12 Scott Beck, #14 Steven Carretto, #20 Alex Michel, #22 Eric Brown, #24 Wes Gehring, #30 Thad Sankey, #32 Jon Ziegler, #40 David Anderson, #42 Jason Jisa, #44 Benjamin Buhr, #50 Marcus Wernke, #52 Reggie Corbin, Brian Beerman, Trevor Osten, Heath Hansen, Ben Jury, Jimmy Boeder.