SEWARD, Neb. – In a rare first semester meet, the Concordia University track and field squads emerged from the weekend with a nice haul of accomplishments. While hosting the Concordia Early Bird Meet (Dec. 13-14), the Bulldogs turned in nine automatic national qualifying marks and juniors Kennedy Mogul and Cody Williams put themselves in prime positions for nationals berths in the multi events. In addition to Concordia, athletes were present from Dakota Wesleyan, Doane, Kansas Wesleyan University, Mount Marty and Southwestern College (Kan.).
Head coach Matt Beisel’s programs enter the 2019-20 indoor campaign with lofty expectations. The women’s team swept 2019 GPAC indoor and outdoor titles.
“Our coaching staff is very pleased with what happened,” Beisel said. “We had a number of automatic and ‘B’ standards. In some cases they came from kids who had never gotten close to a B. That just says they’re ready to make that next jump. When you’re hitting those marks this early going into Christmas, that’s a good sign. I think we got what we wanted out of it. We have some kids who are capable of getting ‘A’ standards who didn’t get them, but it showed us some things that need to be worked on.”
As part of the pentathlon on Friday, Mogul broke the school record in the 60 meter hurdles that had stood since 1987. Mogul held onto that record for less than 24 hours. Sophomore Rachel Battershell reset the standard by clocking in at 9.02 in the prelims of the 60 meter hurdles on Saturday. It was an event that she had not run since high school.
Said Battershell, “It felt really good. I just came into it with no expectations. I just wanted to run and see how it felt. It felt good to just attack it and it turned out well.”
The pole vault crew for both men and women is shaping up to be quite impressive. On the men’s side, senior Gavin DeHaai stole the show with a major personal best clearance of 16’ 4 ¾,” good enough to put him atop the NAIA leaderboard for the time being. Williams also cleared the auto mark (15’ 7”) as part of his run through the heptathlon. On the women’s side, freshman Josie Puelz headlined the day by vaulting 12’ 6 ¼.” She even took her shot at the school record while coming up just short. Senior Allie Brooks (11’ 10 ½”) also hit the ‘A’ standard.
The weight throw also proved fruitful for both the Concordia men and women. Star seniors Jacob Cornelio (64’ 8 ¾”) and Addie Shaw (60’ 5 ¼”) both got on the board with auto marks in the weight throw. Shaw then locked up a spot at nationals in the shot put with a toss of 45’ 11 ¼.” Other national qualifiers in the weight throw were junior Morgan De Jong (54’ 8”) and senior Liam Hennessy (56’ 7 ½”).
Bulldog athletes also combined for 13 ‘B’ standard national qualifying marks. That group included:
- Andy Amos – weight throw (54’ 10 ¼”)
- Rachel Battershell – 400 meters (59.22); 60 meter hurdles (9.02)
- Taylor Beck – triple jump (46’ 3 ½”)
- McKenzie Gravo – pole vault (11’ 2 ½”)
- Kylahn Heritage – mile (5:13.84)
- Samuel Joseph – triple jump (46’ 4”)
- Wyatt Loga – high jump (6’ 7”)
- Kennedy Mogul – 60 meter hurdles (9.14)
- Jerod Peters – shot put (51’ 5 ¾”)
- Tucker Platt – pole vault (15’ 3”)
- Sam Sisco – pole vault (15’ 3”)
- Cody Williams – high jump (6’ 7 ½”)
In the pentathlon that finished on Friday, Mogul totaled 3,341 points (current national leader). The York native either equaled or surpassed personal bests in each of the five events. Junior Emily Loy also eclipsed the minimum national qualifying point total with 3,109. In the heptathlon, Williams racked up 5,195 points. He was the national runner up in the event last season.
Looking beyond the marks that made it onto the national lists, Cora Olson won both the long jump (17’ 11”) and the triple jump (36’ 6 ¾”). Beisel also made mention of sophomore Hannah Mulligan, who has improved rapidly as a sprinter. She clocked times of 7.99 in the 60 meter dash and 27.05 in the 200 meters. In the relays, the Bulldogs have work to do in order to get into national qualifying range. Battershell and her 4x4 teammates finished in 4:03.87. In the other relays, the top Concordia men’s 4xx4 ran a time of 3:31.31 while the women’s 4x8 checked in at 9:59.03.
Beisel and his teams now have an idea of where they are as New Year’s approaches and the meat of the schedule comes about. Said Beisel, “It shows the kids that are where they want to be right now not to let it slide over Christmas break. For kids aren’t where they want to be, that’s motivation to work harder over the break. These are dedicated kids, but being away from the training group can allow for some rust to set in. Getting some things out of the way now will allow us to focus on the things we need to improve upon.”
Added Battershell, “Honestly I think we’ve built on the momentum (from winning the GPAC last season). All fall you could see it. Everyone has that mindset of wanting to be our best and show what we can do.”
The Bulldogs will now wait until the start of the second semester to resume the indoor season. The action will pick back up the weekend of Jan. 17-18 with the Scott Nisely Invite at Doane and the Graduate Classic at the University of Nebraska. The next home meet will be the Polar Dog Invite on Jan. 25.