Kortze named Lincoln Journal Star State College Female Athlete of the Year

Accomplished Concordia senior Sarah Kortze reeled in another honor on Thursday when the Lincoln Journal Star cited her as the State College Female Athlete of the Year. The honor comes on the heels of an impressive 2012-13 athletics season in which the Rockford, Ill., native earned All-America status in both cross country and outdoor track and field. She also won the GPAC cross country title and was tabbed GPAC Cross Country Runner of the Year.

“Nobody has dominated the cross country and the long distances in track in our conference like Sarah did this year,” Concordia track and field coach Kregg Einspahr told the Journal Star. “She does a wonderful job of listening and learning and has shown how important cross training, like weightlifting, can be.”

In addition, Kortze won GPAC outdoor track titles in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter runs and broke her own school record with a 10,000 meter time of 36:33.47 at the Drake Relays on April 25. On Sept. 19, 2012, she grabbed NAIA National Runner of the Week honors.

In cross country, Kortze is a two-time All-American and a three-time all-conference performer.

Kortze has also earned high marks in the classroom. She has been a recipient of the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete award in each of the past two seasons for both cross country and track and was recently named Capital One Academic All-District 6 by CoSIDA.

She will return to Concordia in the fall and use her season left of eligibility in indoor track and field. The biology and physical science major is teaching this summer in Hong Kong thanks to a program orchestrated by Johns Hopkins University.