No. 12 Bulldog men place sixth at NAIA Preview Meet

By Taylor Mueller, Sports Information Assistant

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Concordia men’s and women’s cross country squads got a taste of what their season ending goals will be like as they headed south to compete in the NAIA Preview Meet at the historical Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kan. The Bulldogs faced highly-ranked competition against numerous teams from the NAIA.

With high aspirations coming into a meet full of competition from quality NAIA opponents, head coach Kregg Einspahr felt his team had a solid performance, but didn’t quite meet their potential.

“We had a good race, but not a great race,” Einspahr said. “A couple guys ran really well and a couple guys had off days. It was a solid race but not a great race against some good competition.”

The men finished sixth among 30 teams and were led by junior Ben Sievert, who raced to a 13th place finish in a scorching 25:28. Senior Hayden Hohnholt was next in 26:24, followed closely by sophomore Jordan Potrzeba in 26:32. Senior Beau Billings and junior Charlie Bloomfield rounded out the top five in 26:43 and 26:45 respectively.

A young women’s squad continued to progress, as the meet provided a valuable growing opportunity for the Bulldogs.

“I thought we had a solid race against some good competition,” Einspahr said. “I thought Jessamyn Sweet had a good race today. We will continue to get better as the season goes on. We’re a very young team and it was a good learning experience.”

Freshman Jessamyn Sweet led the Bulldog charge as she raced to a time of 19:35. Sophomore Kim Wood was close behind in 19:44. Junior Renee Williams placed 3rd for Concordia in 20:29. Freshman Ashley Canfield and sophomore Megan Burma placed 4th and 5th for the Bulldogs in 20:36 and 20:46 respectively. The women finished 16h out of 30 teams.

Concordia will use their week off to prepare for their next meet in Yankton, S.D. when it heads north to compete in the Mount Marty Invite on Saturday, Oct. 26.