SEWARD, Neb. – A week out from the 2019 GPAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, the NAIA second-ranked Concordia University track and field teams hosted their third meet of the season while putting on the annual Concordia Indoor Invitational on Friday (Feb. 8). Athletes from 14 different institutions converged upon the Fieldhouse for a meet that lasted more than seven hours.
By night’s end, head coach Matt Beisel’s men’s and women’s athletes had combined to produce five event championships, five runner-up claims and a total of 12 performances that met the ‘A’ national qualifying standard. Two of those ‘A’ marks were brand new.
One of the new automatic marks came very early in the meet. The Concordia Invite, to put it simply, saw the Bulldogs continue a season long theme of cleaning up in the relays. A men’s 4x800 meter relay group of Nathan Matters, Thomas Taylor, Christian Van Cleave and Josiah McAllister galloped to a time of 7:51.74 to break a meet record and take over the NAIA national lead by .36 seconds. That time also ranks No. 14 on the men’s program’s all-time list.
“All of them have been running really well in open events,” Beisel said. “We knew we had the pieces. We just hadn’t run all of those guys together at once so this was the time to do it. They all ran really well.”
Already in good shape to reach the national meet in the pentathlon, Deterding had entered the day not even on the national radar in the long jump. That changed when she landed a mark of 18’ 3 ¼” on her third try of the competition. Owner of a top 10 national point total in the pentathlon, Deterding has moved into the top 20 of the NAIA in the long jump.
“I didn’t think it was real at first because I was three centimeters away from it on the previous jump,” Deterding said. “I knew I had it in me. My warmups were feeling good. I didn’t really know what to expect. Coach Earney was really happy and everyone else was, but it didn’t seem real yet.”
In the men’s pole vault, junior Gavin DeHaai may end up pushing for an All-America award. He elevated his game on Friday by clearing a personal best of 15’ 9.” DeHaai is now equal with Cody Williams as the high men on the totem pole for a group of vaulters with two ‘A’ and four ‘B’ national qualifying standards on the men’s side. The transfer from the University of Sioux Falls knows he has to be at his best just to hang with his own teammates.
“It was pretty great,” DeHaai said of the PR. “Just to be able to get in good shape before conference next week and have my teammates around me cheering me on was great. (The number of national qualifiers) speaks highly of our coach and our work ethic. It drives me every day. There is not a day that you can take off. You have guys on your heels.”
After winning her first four races this season, senior distance standout Taylor Grove finally got edged out on the track. She finished .01 seconds out of first place while clocking in at 11:02.04 in the 3,000 meters. Grove remains the GPAC leader in the 3,000 and 5,000 meter races. Her main goal in this particular race was to help bring along teammates Abbi DeLoach and Hannah Rebmann, who placed third and fourth, respectively.
McKenzie Gravo (pole vault), Rebekah Hinrichs (mile) and Thomas Taylor (800 meters) joined the men’s 4x8 and Deterding as event titlists at the Concordia Invite. Gravo has been a consistent ‘A’ standard performer along with teammate Jacee Pfeifer in the pole vault. DeHaai placed second in the men’s pole vault. Additional runner-up finishes were recorded by Grove, Pfeifer, Addie Shaw (weight throw) and Christian Van Cleave (800 meters).
Concordia’s top nationally rated women’s throws group continues to do what it does. They achieved three ‘A’ standards in the shot put and two more in the weight throw. Shaw’s mark of 46’ 3 ¼” in the shot put represented a season best. Elsewhere in the field events, Leah Larson again eclipsed an ‘A’ standard in the triple jump.
In the women’s 400 meters, both Rachel Battershell (58.65) and Pfeifer (59.15) clocked personal bests. Battershell is ranked 11th nationally in the event.
The most significant action of the 2019 indoor season is yet to come. The Bulldogs will host next week’s GPAC Indoor Track & Field Championships (Feb. 15-16) inside the Fieldhouse. The most recent indoor conference titles for the Bulldogs occurred in 2014 on the men’s side and 2010 on the women’s side. To view the meet schedule, click HERE.
“Every team has its ups and downs,” Beisel said. “We’ve had a lot of great things happen. We’re set up for a very good conference meet. I think our women have a shot at winning conference and our men are going to be in a battle near the top. If we put all the pieces together, you never know what’s going to happen. I believe in our kids. They are competitors and they want it badly. God continues to bless us.”