Bulldog Weekly Report (Feb. 9, 2016)

By Jacob Knabel on Feb. 9, 2016 in Baseball

Bulldog Booster Club Athletes of the Week

Male: Chandler Folkerts, Basketball

Folkerts, a native of Milford, Neb., tallied a combined 49 points, 23 rebounds and four blocks over last week’s action. The 6-foot-8 junior pushed his GPAC-leading double-double total to 11 with his 27-point, 14-rebound effort at Nebraska Wesleyan. He is averaging 19.6 points and 8.4 rebounds this season.

Female: Quinn Wragge, Basketball

Wragge, who hails from Crofton, Neb., went for a career high 29 points on 13-for-16 shooting in last week’s contest at No. 2 Morningside. She leads Concordia in several statistical categories, including scoring (13.4), rebounding (5.7), steals (1.92), field goal percentage (.579) and minutes per game (26.3).

News and notes:

Football announces initial 2016 class of recruits: On National Signing Day (Feb. 3) the Concordia football program announced an initial recruiting class of 50 student-athletes that will arrive this fall via 11 different states. Twenty-one recruits hail from Nebraska. For more on the 2016 group of football recruits, click HERE.

Golf announces seven recruits for 2016: Concordia head golf coach Brett Muller announced a group of seven recruits on National Signing Day (Feb. 3). The list includes four Nebraska natives and one apiece from Illinois, Iowa and Texas. For more information, click HERE.

Baseball/softball set to open 2016 seasons this week: Head coaches Ryan Dupic and Todd LaVelle are set to debut their respective 2016 squads this week. LaVelle will take the softball team to Dallas, Texas, for the Cowtown Classic for five games spread over Friday and Saturday. Dupic and the baseball team will head to Lindsborg, Kan., for 12 p.m. doubleheaders at Bethany College both Saturday and Sunday.
--Season previews: Baseball | Softball

Boellstorff named NAIA national field athlete of the week: Last week marked the third-straight week in which a Concordia track and field performer received a NAIA national athlete of the week award. Junior Cody Boellstorff was the most recent honoree after a NAIA-leading mark in the weight throw at the Concordia Classic. Boellstorff then broke his own record in the weight throw over the weekend at the Sevigne Husker Invite.
NOTE: A Concordia athlete has received a NAIA national honor four-straight weeks: Andrew Schulte (Jan. 13), Kim Wood (Jan. 20), Zach Lurz (Jan. 27) and Boellstorff (Feb. 3).

Bulldog Coaches Show airs every Thursday at 4 p.m. CT: New this year is the Bulldog Coaches Show, which runs for a half hour every Thursday beginning at 4 p.m. CT on KAWL 1370-AM. The show can also be heard live via 104.9 Max Country’s website or by downloading the TuneIn Radio app and then searching “KAWL.” This week’s broadcast schedule for live radio coverage on Max Country will include women’s and men’s basketball versus Midland on Wednesday (6/8 p.m.) and women’s and men’s basketball versus Northwestern on Saturday (2/4 p.m.).

Concordia Sports Network: Live webcasts for most home varsity contests can be accessed by visiting http://www.cune.edu/csn at game time. Check team schedules/results pages for webcast dates. Scrimmages, exhibitions and junior varsity events are not broadcasted.

Wrestling

  • The eighth-ranked Bulldogs put together a dominant week in dual action, blowing away Bethany College, 44-3, on Feb. 3 prior to a road win over Hastings, 39-10, on Feb. 6. In winning 17 of 20 individual bouts, Concordia improved to 12-4 overall this season while clinching at least a share of the GPAC dual title for the second-straight season. Fourth-year head coach Dana Vote’s squad is now 6-0 in GPAC duals with each win coming by a margin of at least nine points. For more on Bulldog wrestling, click HERE.
  • The win over Bethany allowed the 2015-16 Bulldogs to break a program single-season record that had stood for 45 years. The 1970-71 Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame wrestling squad previously held the school standard for dual wins in a season after going 10-3. (Concordia fielded a program from 1961-78 and then went 31 years before resurrecting wrestling in 2009). Over the past three seasons, Vote has led the program to a combined dual record of 30-16. Below is a list of the top seasons in school history in terms of most overall dual wins.
    • 2015-16: 12-4
    • 1970-71: 10-3
    • 2014-15: 9-4
    • 2013-14: 9-8
    • 1967-68: 8-2
  • The Bulldogs have been consistently dominant in GPAC duals since the start of the 2014-15 campaign. Over its current 13-match conference win streak, Concordia has outscored opponents 450-116 and has triumphed in 99 of 130 individual matches. Only one of the 13 wins has been decided by a single-digit margin. Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, the Bulldogs are a combined 18-2 in conference duals.
  • Junior 141-pounder Andrew Schulte (31-6), named the NAIA national wrestler of the week on Jan. 13, picked up two more victories by technical fall last week to run his personal win streak to 17. He has yet to lose since the Battle of the Rockies Open on Dec. 5 and has risen to a No. 1 national ranking. His two wins last week pushed him above 30 for the season, making him the third Bulldog under Vote to reach the 30-victory plateau. The first two instances occurred last season when Ken Burkhardt Jr. (33-18) and Ceron Francisco (31-17) accomplished the feat.
  • Jr Lule (29-7) is also knocking on the door of 30 wins. Lule’s been dominant in his 157-pound weight class. He’s recorded seven-straight wins with each of the last five coming either by technical fall or major decision. A native of Blythe, Calif., Lule has wiped out a team high 10 opponents by tech fall. In comparison, Schulte owns seven such triumphs.
  • Lule and Schulte were two of five Bulldogs that to go 2-0 last week. The others were 125-pounder Dmitri Smith (17-15), 133-pounder Kodie Cole (10-9) and 285-pounder Ceron Francisco (24-13). Smith, ranked 10th at 125, has won five of his last six matches.
  • Vote’s roster sports 12 individuals with 10 or more wins on the season. Five Bulldogs have eclipsed the 20-win mark. The latest to do so was Francisco, who joins Schulte, Lule, Tommy Bailey and Burkhardt Jr. on the list. Matt Atwood is next closest with 19 victories.
    • Andrew Schulte (141/149) – 31-6
    • Jr Lule (157) – 29-7
    • Tommy Bailey (165) – 25-18
    • Ken Burkhardt Jr. (197) – 24-11
    • Ceron Francisco (285) – 24-13
    • Matt Atwood (184) – 19-5
    • Travian Cooke (174) – 17-12
    • Dmitri Smith (125) – 17-15
    • Daniel Melcher (149) – 13-8
    • Alexander Reimers (197) – 11-9
    • Foster Bunce (141/149) – 10-7
    • Kodie Cole (133) – 10-9
  • Concordia seeks an outright GPAC title when it hosts Morningside (6-3, 5-1 GPAC) at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The Bulldogs seized control of the conference dual title away from the Mustangs last season. Morningside went undefeated against GPAC foes in three-straight seasons from 2011 – 14. The Mustangs possess three nationally-ranked grapplers. Following Thursday’s dual, Concordia will prep for the North Qualifying Group Tournament hosted inside Walz Arena on Feb. 20.

Track and Field

  • Week four of the indoor track and field season saw Concordia athletes compete at both the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational (Feb. 5-6) and at Doane’s Fred Beile Classic (Feb. 6) over the weekend. A fresh automatic national qualifying mark was turned in by a Bulldog relay team and Cody Boellstorff and Kim Wood again broke school records they already held. For more information on Concordia track and field, click HERE.
  • Wood, a six-time GPAC champion, continues to push herself to new levels. Though it was a relatively light weekend for the native of Greeley, Neb., (only competed in one event), she shaved more than six seconds off her previous school record mile time by clocking in at 4:51.61 (adjusted to 4:52.21 for the national leaderboard) at the Husker Invite. Wood is the NAIA national leader in the one mile while also ranking second in the 800 meters (2:11.03), third in the 1,000 meters (2:55.95) and seventh in the 600 meters (1:35.80). She owns program indoor records in the 800 meter, 1,000 meter and one mile runs while also being part of the school record 4x800 meter relay of 2014.
  • Boellstorff, the 2015 NAIA hammer throw national champion, strengthened his national lead in the weight throw with an impressive toss of 68’ 4 ½” to claim first place at the Husker Invite on Feb. 5. The native of Waverly, Neb., topped a field that included competitors from several Big 12 institutions as well as other NCAA Division I schools. Boellstorff’s school record weight throw tops teammate Zach Lurz (61’ 9”) for the NAIA lead by more than six-and-a-half feet and would place him among the top 25 of NCAA Division I competitors in the weight throw.
  • The lone fresh automatic qualifying mark of the weekend came courtesy of the men’s 4x400 meter relay, which took to the track at the Devaney Sports Center. Concordia’s quartet of CJ Muller, Jaap van Gaalen, Trevor Bresson and Nathan Matters completed the race in 3:19.94. Muller and company now sit sixth on the NAIA national list in the 4x4. Their time ranks No. 14 on Concordia’s all-time list of men’s 4x400 meter relay times.
  • Some highlights from the Beile Classic were delivered by the likes of senior Jose Rojas (season best in the shot put) and freshman McKenzie Gravo (personal best in the pole vault). Rojas won the shot put competition with his throw of 54’ 3 ¾” that places him in a tie for fifth with teammate Trey Barnes on the NAIA leaderboard. Meanwhile, Gravo ranks 12th in the NAIA with her automatic national qualifying clearance of 11’ 10 ¾.”
  • The Bulldogs enter the week still leading the NAIA in four different events. In addition to the top marks produced by Boellstorff and Wood, Concordia possesses No. 1-ranked throws in both the men’s and women’s shot put (Zach Lurz and Stephanie Coley). Concordia owns a total of 24 marks that rank inside the top 10 on the NAIA national leaderboard. In the shot put, three Bulldog throwers rank in the top five on both the men’s and women’s lists. Concordia men hold down the top two weight throw spots and Bulldog women rank third, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the weight.
  • As a team, Concordia stood pat in the national computer rankings released last week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). According to its rankings, the Bulldogs are No. 4 on the women’s side and No. 5 and the men’s side. Seven GPAC teams are ranked in the top 25 in the women’s ratings and six GPAC men’s received top-25 placements. View the ratings HERE.
  • Here’s a look at the 27 automatic national qualifying marks and six ‘B’ standard marks produced this season by Concordia athletes. Seven Bulldogs own automatic marks in more than one event: Coley, Lurz, Muller, Robb, Rojas, Wiechman and Wood.
    • Men’s 4x400 – A, 3:21.54
    • Women’s 4x400 – B, 4:03.91
    • Women’s 4x800 – B, 9:49.85
    • Trey Barnes – shot put (A, 54’ 3 ¾”)
    • Cody Boellstorff – weight throw (A, 68’ 4 ½”)
    • Kattie Cleveland – weight throw (A, 56’)
    • Stephanie Coley – shot put (A, 47’ 7 ¾”); weight throw (B, 55’ 10 ½”)
    • Alayna Daberkow – pentathlon (A, 3,000)
    • McKenzie Gravo – pole vault (A, 11’ 10 ¾”)
    • Liz King – weight throw (A, 53’ 8 ¼”)
    • Philip Kreutzer – weight throw (A, 58’ ½”); shot put (B, 50’ 1 ¼”)
    • Samantha Liermann – shot put (A, 46’ 10”)
    • Zach Lurz – shot put (A, 60’ 1 ¼”); weight throw (A, 61’ 9”)
    • Cynthia Mick – pole vault (A, 11’ 5”)
    • CJ Muller – 400 meter run (A, 49.04); 600 meter run (A, 1:20.71)
    • Kali Robb – shot put (A, 47’ 7 ¼”); weight throw (A, 60’ 1”)
    • Jose Rojas – shot put (A, 54’ 3 ¾”); weight throw (A, 56’ 11 ¼”)
    • Austin Schafer – pole vault (A, 15’ 5”)
    • Benjamin Schulteis – weight throw (B, 53’ 8 ½”)
    • Emily Sievert – 5,000 meter run (A, 18:07.90)
    • Lucas Wiechman – pole vault (A, 16’ ¾”); heptathlon (A, 4,918); 60 meter hurdles (B, 8.38)
    • Kim Wood – 600 meter run (A, 1:35.80); 800 meter run (A, 2:11.03); 1,000 meter run (A, 2:55.95); one mile run (A, 4:52.21)
  • Concordia will play host for the final time this indoor season when the annual Concordia Indoor Invitational is held inside the Walz Fieldhouse on Friday. The action is set to get started at 2 p.m. CT. To view the event schedule, click HERE.

Men’s Basketball

  • Following its CIT championship run (Jan. 29-30), Concordia returned to GPAC play last week and split a pair of road games. The Bulldogs responded from a 96-83 loss at Nebraska Wesleyan on Feb. 3 with an 83-79 victory at Morningside on Feb. 6. Third-year head coach Ben Limback’s squad now sits at 16-10 overall and 8-9 in conference play (tied for sixth). The win over the Mustangs was crucial for Concordia’s ability to qualify for the eight-team GPAC tournament that begins Feb. 24. To read recaps of recent action, click HERE.
  • With 16 wins overall, the 2015-16 Bulldogs have equaled the win total recorded by last year’s squad. A 17th triumph would give the program its most wins in a season since the 2009-10 team went 18-12 overall. During Grant Schmidt’s 23-year tenure as head coach, Concordia won 20 or more games 10 times with a high of 32 (school record) during the 2004-05 season that ended with a loss in the national championship game. Limback’s high-water mark as a head coach was 18 wins in 2006-07 when he was the helm of the Concordia University Ann Arbor program. Now in his 12th year as a head coach, Limback has 155 career victories.
  • The Bulldogs came up just shy of running their string of consecutive games of better than 50 percent shooting to six. They shot 49.3 percent at Nebraska Wesleyan and then 53.1 percent at Morningside. Over the past six contests, Concordia has converted 54.5 (183-for-336) percent of its shots from the field. One of the nation’s most efficient teams, the Bulldogs rank fifth among all NAIA Division II teams in field goal percentage (.500). They rank 10th in free throw percentage (.746).
  • Junior post man Chandler Folkerts is a big reason for Concordia’s lofty field goal percentage numbers. The consistent force totaled a combined 49 points, 23 rebounds and four blocks while making 19-of-27 (.704) shots from the field during last week’s action. The 6-foot-8 Milford native tops the GPAC with 11 double-doubles and ranks second nationally in field goal percentage (.666). Folkerts has climbed to No. 15 on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,319 career points.
  • Junior sharpshooter Eli Ziegler nailed 8-of-18 (.444) attempts from beyond the arc in continuing his surge. Over his last 11 games, the native of Littleton, Colo., has knocked down 30-of-64 (.469) 3-point tries while ascending to No. 11 on the GPAC leaderboard in 3-point percentage (.404) for the season. Over the past four games Ziegler has averaged 14.5 points. At 646 career points, he’s put himself within range of reaching 1,000 points next season.
  • Twenty-point games were the norm early in the season for senior point guard Jamie Pearson, who scored 20 or more in seven-straight outings in a stretch from mid-November and into December. He then went 13 games in a row without hitting the 20-point mark until last week’s win at Morningside where he dropped in 21. Folkerts (19.6) and Pearson (18.0) both rank among the GPAC’s top 10 scorers. Pearson has piled up a total of 451 points in his first season as a Bulldog.
  • Concordia continues to rely primarily on its starting five for its scoring punch. Last week the starters combined for all but 16 of the team’s 166 points. In the loss at Nebraska Wesleyan, all five starters reached double figures in scoring. The Bulldogs are one of three teams in the GPAC with three players averaging 30 minutes of action or more per game. Four of Concordia’s starter score more than 10 points per game.
  • The Bulldogs are the only team in the conference that ranks in the top two of the GPAC in both field goal percentage offense (.500) and field goal percentage defense (.428). The struggles have been on the perimeter as Concordia ranks eighth in the GPAC in both 3-point field goal percentage offense (.344) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (.376).
  • Concordia has just three games remaining on the regular-season slate as it makes its push for postseason play. The Bulldogs will be at home twice this week with Midland (13-11, 10-6 GPAC) visiting at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Northwestern (13-12, 7-9 GPAC) arriving for a 4 p.m. tipoff on Saturday. Limback’s squad will attempt to earn a regular-season split with the Warriors and then a sweep of the Red Raiders.

Women’s Basketball

  • No. 12 Concordia pushed its winning streak to four last week with wins at Nebraska Wesleyan, 65-51, and at home over Grace University, 85-50, before falling at second-ranked Morningside, 79-65, to close the week on Feb. 6. The Bulldogs moved to 67-9 in home games since the start of the 2011-12 season via the victory over Grace. Tenth-year head coach Drew Olson’s squad is now 19-7 overall and 11-7 in league play (tied for third place). With four conference regular-season games remaining, Concordia can finish as high as second place or as low as seventh place. It has already a clinched a spot in the eight-team GPAC tournament that opens on Feb. 24. For recaps of recent action, click HERE.
  • The contest at Morningside (24-2, 16-2 GPAC) marked the Bulldogs’ eighth game this season against a ranked opponent. Concordia is 5-3 in those games with wins over No. 4 Briar Cliff, No. 6 Dakota Wesleyan, No. 6 University of Jamestown (N.D.), No. 10 Hastings and No. 24 Mayville State University (N.D.). The losses have come against No. 1/2 Morningside (twice) and at No. 16 Dakota Wesleyan. During last season’s run to the national title game, the Bulldogs defeated 13 top-25 foes.
  • Quinn Wragge’s rise to stardom continues in her first collegiate season. In the loss at Morningside, Wragge went for a career high 29 points while making 13-of-16 shots from the field. The CIT MVP has scored 15 or more points in seven of the last 10 games, averaging 17.0 points over that stretch. The Crofton native leads the team in several statistical categories, including scoring (13.4), rebounding (5.7), steals (1.92), field goal percentage (.579) and minutes per game (26.3). She ranks sixth among all NAIA Division II players in field goal percentage.
  • The win over Grace marked Concordia’s final nonconference game of the regular season. The Bulldogs went a perfect 8-0 outside of GPAC play while winning those contests by an average margin of 27.5 points. The slimmest victory margin among nonconference outings occurred in the Bulldogs’ 64-52 win over Concordia University Ann Arbor at CIT. Olson’s squad pummeled York, 111-65, for its most lopsided victory.
  • Senior Becky Mueller is crawling her way to 1,000 career points after totaling 17 tallies over last week’s three outings. She’s now 12 points away from becoming the 24th member of the program’s 1,000-point club. Olson has coached six 1,000-point scorers at Concordia: Bailey Morris (2,054), Whitney Stichka (1,765), Kristen Conahan (1,656), Melissa Tinkham (1,452), Katie Rich (1,293) and Tracy Peitz (1,293).
  • With one more victory, Olson will reach the 20-win mark for the eighth time in his 10 seasons as head coach. With 245 career victories, the 2003 Concordia graduate is the winningest coach in program history. Olson is one of five Bulldog women’s basketball coaches to win 20 or more games in a season at least once. The others are Carl Everts (six times), Mark Lemke (three times), Micah Parker (once) and Todd Voss (three times).
  • One of the nation’s best teams from beyond the arc this season, Concordia went cold from distance last week. The Bulldogs made only 26-of-103 3-point tries (.252) over its last three games. That stat is uncharacteristic for a squad that still ranks 23rd among all NAIA Division II teams in 3-point field goal percentage (.343). Only two teams in the nation make more 3-point field goals per game than Concordia (9.9). Brenleigh Daum ranks 32nd nationally with 60 treys on the season.
  • Sophomore Mary Janovich has now missed each of the last eight games after suffering a season-ending ACL tear in practice on Jan. 18. Concordia is 5-3 in those contests while averaging 68.0 points and allowing 66.1. Janovich, the 2014-15 GPAC freshman of the year, had averaged 10.4 points over this season’s first 18 games while serving as one of the team’s top defenders prior to the injury.
  • A string of three-straight conference home games begins on Wednesday when Midland (7-18, 5-13 GPAC) visits Seward for a 6 p.m. tipoff. Then on Saturday the Bulldogs will welcome Northwestern (14-10, 9-9 GPAC) to Walz for a 2 p.m. start. Concordia has won 15-straight meetings with the Warriors. On the other hand, the Bulldogs will attempt to avenge a 99-80 loss at Northwestern on Jan. 9.

Tennis

  • Both Bulldog tennis squads were in action last week against the same two institutions. The Concordia men fell by scores of 6-3 at NCAA Division II William Jewell College (Mo.) on Feb. 5 and 7-2 in a neutral match versus Baker University (Kan.) on Feb. 6. On the other hand, the Bulldog women dropped contests by finals of 9-0 at William Jewell and 8-1 at the hands of Baker. Second-year head coach Joel Reckewey’s squads now stand at 1-3 on the men’s side and 0-4 on the women’s side. For more on Concordia tennis, click the following links: MEN | WOMEN.
  • The highlight of weekend came courtesy of freshman Willy Pardos, Concordia’s new No. 1 singles player. The native of Pamplona, Spain, won both of last week’s singles matches, including one over NAIA No. 5-ranked singles player Spartak Rahachou from Baker. Pardos won in a tiebreaker, 3-6, 7-5, 10-4. A day earlier, Pardos defeated Amery Clews of William Jewell. Concordia’s top singles player is 3-1 on the year with the only loss coming to an NCAA Division I opponent from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
  • The Bulldog men were shutout in doubles play last week, but additional singles wins were claimed by Javier Moreno (No. 3) at William Jewell, Gabe Poling (No. 5) at William Jewell and Thomas Greeff (No. 2) vs. Baker. Through four matches, Reckewey has used seven different singles players. He’s employed the same doubles lineups in each of the first four outings. Overall, the Bulldogs are 9-15 in singles play and 2-10 in doubles matches.
  • On the women’s side, the lone victory of last week came via sophomore Annie Horn, who outdueled Baker’s Brooke Barnard, 8-5, in a pro-set No. 1 singles bout. It was the first singles win of 2016 for the native of Denver, Colo.
  • Reckewey has mixed and matched a lot more with his women’s lineups. Nine different Bulldogs have played in at least one singles matches. In addition, seven different doubles teams have been used. The Concordia women are 5-19 in singles matches and 1-11 in doubles action.
  • Just like last week, both Bulldog teams will play Friday and Saturday. The weekend opens with a men’s and women’s neutral doubleheader versus Ottawa University (Kan.) (0-4 men | 5-2 women) at 2 p.m. in Lincoln on Friday. The following day Concordia will host Bethany College (Kan.) (0-0 men | 0-0 women) in both men’s and women’s action, beginning at 10 a.m. inside the Walz Fieldhouse.