FREMONT, Neb. – Track and field season is officially underway. Sophomore Taylor Grove will have the opportunity to help the Concordia women’s team in its defense of its 2016 NAIA outdoor national title. Grove finished the Warrior Half Marathon, hosted by Midland in Fremont, Neb., on Dec. 3, in just under an hour-and-a-half. That mark makes Grove an automatic national qualifier for the marathon at the 2017 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala.
Also a member of head coach Matt Beisel’s cross country team, Grove’s official half marathon time in Fremont was 1:29:28. She placed second among the 15 female runners. The top three all qualified for nationals. A native of Billings, Mont., Grove will make her first career national championships appearance. She averaged a 6:50 mile at the Warrior Half Marathon.
Sophomore Evan Asche represented Concordia in the men’s half marathon. Asche clocked a time of 1:17:49 and placed 21st amongst the field of male runners. The automatic national qualifying mark for men running the half marathon is 1:13:30.
Concordia track and field will host its annual Blue-White Intrasquad on Friday. Action inside the Fieldhouse is set to get started at 4 p.m. CT. The first official meets of the indoor season are scheduled for the weekend of Jan. 13-14 when both the University of Nebraska Holiday Inn Invitational and the Doane Nisely Invite will take place.