Bulldogs race to impressive finishes at Greeno Invite
By Taylor Mueller, Sports Information Assistant
LINCOLN, Neb. – The Concordia men’s and women’s cross country seasons are underway as both teams competed in the season opening Greeno Invite on a beautiful day at Pioneer Park in Lincoln, Neb. The men and the women started the season strong with an 11th place finish for the women out of 32 teams and a 12th place finish for the men out of 28 teams.
The top finisher for the Bulldogs was senior Sarah Kortze who placed seventh with a time of 21:54.88. On the men’s side, sophomore Ben Sievert led the way with a time of 26:10.21, claiming 31st place individually.
“It was a lot of fun,” Kortze said of her performance. “This is a really big meet and I love the course. It was great.”
Kortze went on to talk about the team and the potential that they have moving forward.
“Running as a team, all the freshmen did very well,” Kortze said. “It was a good start to the season for us. We are a very young team overall and it will take a little bit to get used to the college races for the freshmen, but they’re very hard workers.”
Kortze wasn’t the only one who was pleased with her finish. Head coach Kregg Einspahr also had positive things to say about her race.
“Sarah had one of the best races a Concordia female has ever had in a 6k race,” Einspahr said. “She had an outstanding race.”
Other finishers running well for the Bulldogs were Jenna Schwalenberg in 22:56.53, freshman Kim Wood with a time of 24:01.53, sophomore Renee Williams who came in at 24:37.18 and junior Megan Letts who finished in 25:08.18.
Einspahr noted that while the top two runners for the girls ran well, there is still room for the team to improve.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Einspahr said. “We had a big gap between our number one and our four and five today. We need to fill that spot up a little better. If we can do that, we’ll be a pretty good team.”
On the men’s side, Sievert talked about his performance on opening day.
“I was pretty happy with it,” Sievert said. “I was surprised. I felt a lot better that I usually do for a first meet. We haven’t really done a whole lot of speed yet in practice, but our team did really well today overall.”
Sievert went on to explain why he believes the team could have strong success this season.
“We have a bunch of good freshmen coming up,” Sievert said. They have a great attitude. We have some good returners and no one is complaining. It’s a great group to work with and I’m excited to see how we do for the rest of the season.”
Einspahr shared insight similar to that of the girls’ team as to what the team needs to do to get better as the season rolls along.
“Our top three runners ran quite well,” Einspahr said. “Again we dropped back at our number four and five spots. We have a couple guys who can fill in there. Both teams are very young at our number four, five, six and seven spots. We’ll continue to get better as the season goes along.”
Other runners who placed in the top five for the men today was junior Hayedn Hohnholt with a time of 26:35.61, junior Beau Billings in 26:46.81, sophomore Charlie Bloomfield who finished in 27:38.76 and freshman Taylor Mueller in 27:41.81.
Next up for the men and the women will be the Griak Invitational at Bolstad GC in St.Paul, Minn., on Sept. 29.