SEWARD, Neb. – It’s GPAC week for Concordia University, Nebraska Cross Country. The Bulldogs are gearing up for Saturday’s 2024 GPAC Cross Country Championships to be held at Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Neb. The conference meet will be held within the state of Nebraska for the first time since it was staged at North Bend Golf Course in 2018. Mahoney State Park will be a new location for the GPAC Cross Country Championships. The women’s 6,000-meter race is slated to get started at 10:45 a.m. followed by the men’s 8,000-meter race at 11:30 a.m.
Meet Info – 2024 GPAC Cross Country Championships
--Saturday, Nov. 9 | Women’s 6k – 10:45 a.m., Men’s 8k – 11:30 a.m.
--Mahoney State Park | Ashland, Nebraska
--Results: Black Squirrel Timing
--Live Video: GPAC Network (finish line)
Head Coach Matt Beisel’s programs enter the GPAC championships with conference rankings of No. 3 on the men’s side and No. 4 on the women’s side. In the NAIA coaches’ polls released on Oct. 31, the Bulldogs received votes on the men’s side (28th) but did not garner any votes on the women’s side. Other GPAC teams earning national votes are the Dordt women (eighth) and men (12th), Doane men (22nd) and women (RV) and College of Saint Mary (RV). The Defender women and men will be looking to defend their sweep of GPAC titles each year from 2020 through 2023. The Concordia women (2019) were the most recent team to break up Dordt’s impressive run of first-place conference finishes.
As part of the 2024 regular season, the Bulldogs competed in five meets while often going up against strong NAIA Division II and NAIA opposition. The women’s team turned in place finishes of seventh out of 20 at the Augustana Twilight, 16th out of 22 at the Greeno/Dirksen Invite, first out of eight at the Briar Cliff Invite, fourth out of 10 at the Dordt Holiday Inn Express Classic and 12th out of 27 at the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic. Meanwhile, the men posted place finishes of eighth out of 28 at the Augustana Twilight, 12th out of 26 at the Greeno/Dirksen Invite, first out of six at the Briar Cliff Invite, third out of 11th at the Dordt Holiday Inn Express Classic and sixth out of 27 at the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic.
Hannah Beintema is the lone current Bulldog with previous GPAC All-Conference cross country recognition. The junior from Bettendorf, Iowa, placed 13th at the 2023 conference meet with a 6k time of 22:32.4. Fellow returners like Keegan Beisel (17th at ’23 GPAC) and Trey Robertson (16th at ’23 GPAC) narrowly missed out all-conference accolades (top 15 runners) and are primed to compete for GPAC awards this Saturday. So too is freshman Vaughn Hendrickson, Concordia’s top men’s runner at four of five meets this season. Hendrickson and Robertson are both coming off efforts that saw them finish 8k races in under 25 minutes at the Blazing Tiger Classic.
The Bulldogs came away from last season with five GPAC All-Conference awards (Beintema was joined by Julie McIntyre, Keeli Green and Kylahn Freiberg on the women’s side and Calvin Rohde on the men’s side). As a team, the 2023 GPAC Championships yielded place finishes of second for the women and third for the men. The women earned a bid to the national meet (and placed 18th in the NAIA) while Rohde qualified individually in representing the men’s program.
A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., Hendrickson has earned two GPAC Runner of the Week awards this season and was the champion of the Briar Cliff Invite. In addition, Robertson pulled in the GPAC weekly award following the Augustana Twilight. On the women’s side, Beintema paced Concordia at the first three meets of the fall before Beisel emerged as the lead Dawg at the next two meets.
Top individuals by meet, 2024 (women):
Augustana Twilight: Hannah Beintema – 18:58.33 (5k)
Greeno/Dirksen: Hannah Beintema – 19:48.1 (5k)
Briar Cliff Invite: Hannah Beintema – 23:31.9 (6k)
Dordt Classic: Keegan Beisel – 23:10.00 (6k)
Blazing Tiger: Keegan Beisel – 23:30.31 (6k)
Top individuals by meet, 2024 (men):
Augustana Twilight: Trey Robertson – 19:22.17 (4 miles)
Greeno/Dirksen: Vaughn Hendrickson – 25:51.3 (8k)
Briar Cliff Invite: Vaughn Hendrickson – 25:26.7 (8k); meet champion
Dordt Classic: Vaughn Hendrickson – 24:58.33 (8k)
Blazing Tiger: Vaughn Hendrickson – 24:49.52 (8k)
In the history of Concordia Cross Country, the program has claimed a combined 12 team conference championships and 25 individual conference titles. The most recent individual GPAC champions were Sarah Kortze (2012) for the women and Coli n Morrissey (2012) for the men. The 2009 season marked the most recent time the Bulldogs sent their men’s and women’s teams to the national meet in the same year.
Official qualifiers for the 2024 NAIA Cross Country National Championships will be announced once all conference meets have concluded. The national meet is set to be held at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo., on Nov. 22. More details on the meet can be found via the NAIA website HERE.
Thoughts from the Bulldogs:
Vaughn Hendrickson: “I am most satisfied with how the team continues to work harder at practice and collectively as a team, we have seen massive improvements throughout and are really working together and pushing each other to be compete to the best of our ability. It is incredible to see the team dynamic and how the team has grown closer together throughout this season.
“I am so excited to see what we can do collectively as a team this Saturday. I can’t wait to see everyone compete and push each other. We have such an incredible opportunity and are so blessed to be where we are right now. The most important thing is that we will continue to glorify God no matter how we all compete on Saturday.”
Keegan Beisel: "I have found that it is of the highest importance in preparation for significant meets that we give all that we do up to God, recognizing that all that we have comes from Him, and relying on Him to be our strength of body, mind and spirit while competing. I am confident that we are ready to perform at a high level this week because I trust the training that Coach has given us, and I sense that the whole team is hungry to give their best effort yet at GPAC.”
2024 Concordia GPAC Championship Rosters
Women
Claire Beikmann
Hannah Beintema
Keegan Beisel
Kelsie Heins
Ellie Jander
Rhaya Kaschinske
Christina Martinson
Annaka Schlachter
Annika Staab
Alison Stepanek
Alternate: Josie Smith
Men
Jack Ellis
Thomas Gorline
Vaughn Hendrickson
Aaron Jendro
Trevor Kuncl
Aidan Limback
Jarrett Miles
Nathan Pennekamp
Trey Robertson
Cole Yunker
Alternate: Ethan Sholey
Concordia Cross Country History
All-time team conference championships
Men (8): 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1997, 2004, 2009, 2012 (titles in 1969 and 1970 were won in the Tri-State Conference)
Women (6): 1995, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2019
All-time individual conference champions
Men (18)
Dan Cloeter (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973)
Dave Cloeter (1975)
Kregg Einspahr (1979, 1980, 1981)
Brandon Seifert (1997, 1998, 1999)
Andrew Walquist (2003, 2004)
Luka Thor (2006)
Zach Meineke (2008, 2009)
Dana Schmidt (2010)
Colin Morrissey (2012)
Women (7)
Sharon Holthaus (1980)
Amy Luft (1997)
Stacey Hain (1998)
Molly Engel (2002, 2003, 2004)
Sarah Kortze (2012)