SEWARD, Neb. – It’s full steam ahead now that the second semester has resumed. Action picked back up on Friday (Jan. 17) for Concordia University Track & Field as it hosted the annual Polar Dog Invite and came away with seven event championships. Major highlights included new personal best automatic national qualifying standards from Mayson Ostermeyer in the pole vault and Abi Wohlgemuth in the weight throw. Ostermeyer competed at the Graduate Classic hosted by the University of Nebraska while all other Bulldog athletes were present on the home turf inside the Walz Fieldhouse.
The outing marked the first full-blown meet for Head Coach Matt Beisel’s squads since the Bulldog Early Bird Meet on Dec. 13-14. This was a chance to knock off the rust.
“When you get back from four weeks away and you haven’t had the reps, you’re going to get what you’re going to get,” Beisel said. “You will have people throw a PR or jump a season best, but for the majority of kids it’s a start. Now let’s build on that. At the same time, we did have some new national marks. We had a lot of good, solid things happen … We have now four weeks until conference, so we’re going to put quite a bit of intensity into what we do. We’re at our max volume right now. It’s going fast.”
The Polar Dog champions included the men’s 4x400-meter relay, Easton Fries (60 hurdles), Vaughn Hendrickson (5,000 meters), Jonny Jurchen (3,000-meter race walk), Adrianna Rodencal (200 meters), Annaka Schlachter (5,000 meters) and Wohlgemuth. In addition to the NAIA ‘A’ standards achieved by Ostermeyer and Wohlgemuth, Carson Fehlhafer (weight throw) and Hayley Miles (long jump) both hit ‘B’ standards that moved them up the national lists.
At the Graduate Classic held inside the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Ostermeyer took advantage of the opportunity to compete alongside former teammate Zach Zohner (now a Cornhusker). Ostermeyer cleared 16’ 4 ½” while rising above his previous best of 16’ 2 ¾,” which stood as the top mark in the NAIA entering the weekend. Zohner cleared 16’ 10 ¼.”
The work of Fehlhafer and Wohlgemuth headlined the performances from the throws crew. With her weight throw toss of 59’ 8 ½,” the Lincoln Lutheran alum Wohlgemuth moved into the top five on the program’s all-time list. Meanwhile, Fehlhafer popped a weight throw mark of 59’ 10 ½,” which would rank him top five nationally based on the NAIA leaderboard at the start of the day. It was also a solid day for Abigail Gerber, who placed third in the weight throw and fourth in the shot put (‘B’ standard of 44’ 4”) at the Polar Dog. In the men’s shot put, Connor Asche led the way while placing seventh.
An indoor national qualifier last year, Miles landed at 18’ 4 ¼” in the long jump and was the meet runner up. In the triple jump, Josi Noble came up just shy of the ‘B’ standard with her mark of 37’ 6.” A host of other Concordia jumpers placed in the top three of their respective events, including runners up Jaxon Lipker and Addie Reimer in the high jump and Aaron Spivey (third in the triple jump).
A Seward High School product, Jurchen has taken to race walking like a natural. While coached by Steve Hoger, Jurchen had already posted a time back at the Early Bird that placed him at No. 6 in the NAIA. He knocked a second off that first performance while crossing the finish line in 14:32.16.
Said Jurchen afterwards, “I was pretty happy with the result. I know I could have gone a little bit faster, especially in the middle laps, but I was really focused on form. I’m pretty happy with it overall – it’s faster than my time from the last meet … It was definitely a big learning curve starting out. I couldn’t go faster than a 12-minute mile pace and it really hurt my shins and my knees. When I realized if I put more effort into my form and doing drills, it would get easier over time.”
Already a national qualifier in the 60-meter hurdles, Rodencal focused solely on the 200 meters on Friday and beat out a field of 34 competitors with a time of 25.82. Meanwhile, the 5k sweep for the Bulldogs came courtesy of two freshmen as the GPAC cross country champion Hendrickson ran 15:35.28 on the men’s side and Schlachter ran 19:38.15 on the women’s side. Trey Robertson was the runner up to Hendrickson in a time of 15:45.71.
The action on the track concluded on Friday with the men’s 4x4. The Concordia grouping of Hayden Kluthe, Lucas Corwin, Teagan Meyer and Jackson Lindburg held off Doane for first place with a time of 3:31.26.
Earlier on the track, Fries ran 8.20 as part of his win in the 60 hurdles, an event in which he holds the school record. Additional noteworthy efforts came from Emily Loseke (third in the 60 and 200 meters), Liam Fagan (second in the 400 meters) and Thomas Gorline (third in the 5,000 meters).
National Qualifying Standards achieved on Jan. 17
· A – Mayson Ostermeyer: Pole Vault (16’ 4 ½”) – UNL Graduate Classic
· A – Abi Wohlgemuth: Weight Throw (59’ 8 ½”)
· B – Carson Fehlhafer: Weight Throw (59’ 10 ½”)
· B – Abigail Gerber: Shot Put (44’ 4”)
· B – Jonny Jurchen: 3,000m Race Walk (14:32.16)
· B – Hayley Miles: Long Jump (18’ 4 ¼”)
Polar Dog Event Champions
· Men’s 4x400m Relay (3:31.26); Kluthe, Corwin, Meyer and Lindburg
· Easton Fries: 60 Hurdles (8.20)
· Vaughn Hendrickson: 5,000 Meters (15:35.28)
· Jonny Jurchen: 3,000m Race Walk (14:32.16)
· Adrianna Rodencal: 200 Meters (25.82)
· Annaka Schlacter: 5,000 Meters (19:38.15)
· Abi Wohlgemuth: Weight Throw (59’ 8 ½”)
Select Bulldogs will be in action on Saturday for day two of the Graduate Classic in Lincoln. Following the weekend, the indoor season will resume on Jan. 24-25 with the Concordia Classic, the third of four 2024-25 indoor meets hosted by the Bulldogs.