GPAC Performance List | Event Schedule | Live Results | Heat Sheets
SEWARD, Neb. – Championship season is here for the Concordia University track and field squads, which have made it through the April grind of the outdoor season. To be sure, it has been an impressive outdoor season to date with Bulldog athletes combining for 23 automatic national qualifying marks and 13 ‘B’ standard marks through five weeks of competition. Those efforts have resulted in current lofty NAIA national ratings of third on the women’s side and 18th on the men’s side.
Now head coach Matt Beisel’s squads will attempt to prove they deserve mention among the nation’s elite with the most significant meets up next. The 2019 GPAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will unfold this Friday and Saturday in Yankton, S.D., where Mount Marty will serve as the host.
Expectations are high for Concordia, which hosted the 2019 GPAC indoor meet and came away with a women’s conference title and a men’s conference runner up claim.
“I think we’re in a good position,” Beisel said at Tuesday’s Bulldog Athletic Association Member Luncheon. “Our women right now are projected to win. If you look at some of the top teams that we compete against, they haven’t had their best days yet. We know that if they have good days it can turn the tables. We have to have all the pieces functioning well.
“On the guys’ side, Doane has been pretty dominant. Our men look to be in a dogfight for those top few spots and it could go anyway. If we could get a top-two finish, we would be pretty pleased.”
The bulldog women broke a nine-year drought in regards to GPAC indoor titles. Now they aim to capture their first conference outdoor championship since 2012. On the current GPAC performance lists, Concordia owns No. 1 rankings courtesy of the women’s 4x400 meter relay, Erin Mapson (pole vault) and Addie Shaw (hammer throw). Defending conference champions from the 2018 outdoor season include Taylor Grove (10,000 meters) and Samantha Liermann (shot put).
With Liermann and Shaw leading the way, the Bulldogs possess the potential to score plenty of points in the throws. They could also come away with a nice haul in the women’s pole vault. Allie Brooks and McKenzie Gravo have combined to win four GPAC pole vault titles (two apiece) in their careers. Not only does Mapson top the GPAC leaderboard at the moment, Gravo is second, Tristen Mosier is tied for fourth and Brooks is sixth. Jacee Pfeifer is also more than capable of making a run at big point finish.
The women are also strong in the jumps with Claire Cornell and Jessica Deterding sitting second and third, respectively, on the GPAC long jump leaderboard. Concordia has a national qualifier in the long jump (Cornell), high jump (Mackenzie Koepke) and triple jump (Leah Larson). Deterding also ranks second in the GPAC in the heptathlon with her school record point total (4,707). In the 400 hurdles, Sarah Lewis (third) and Kennedy Mogul (fifth) are both in the top five of the conference.
On the men’s side, the Bulldogs know they will have to be at their best in order to push conference favorite Doane. The men’s GPAC runner up finish this past indoor season was made possible in part by conference event titles from Jacob Cornelio (weight throw), Josiah McAllister (1,000 meters), Thomas Taylor (800 meters) and Cody Williams (heptathlon). Williams is the defending GPAC champ in the outdoor decathlon, but he will focus on a variety of open events this time around. Impressively, Williams ranks in the top three of the GPAC in five separate events, including second in the high jump, pole vault and long jump.
The pole vault could also be a source of major point scoring for the men, who have five of the top 11 in the GPAC as it stands right now. Sam Sisco (‘B’ mark of 15’ 3”) and others such as Zach Bennetts, Gavin DeHaai and Tucker Platt are still aiming for automatic clearances that could send them to nationals. In the throws, Cornelio (second in GPAC in hammer) is the obvious headliner with the likes of Liam Hennessy and Ryan Sanchez also capable of making an impact.
Following the GPAC championships, the Concordia Twilight Meet on Friday, May 10 will serve as a last chance opportunity for those still seeking national qualifying marks and for others attempting to improve existing marks. The 2019 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships will then take place in Gulf Shores, Ala., May 23-25.
Concordia all-time conference titles
MEN – indoor: 2014 | outdoor: 2014, 2015
WOMEN – indoor: 2010, 2019 | outdoor: 1998, 2010, 2012
Concordia all-time conference runner-up finishes
MEN – indoor: 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019 | outdoor: 2002, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017
WOMEN – indoor: 2003, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016 | outdoor: 2005, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Current Bulldogs with GPAC titles
Rachel Battershell (2019 indoor 4x400m relay)
Allie Brooks (2017 indoor pole vault; 2019 indoor pole vault)
Jacob Cornelio (2019 indoor weight throw)
McKenzie Gravo (2016 indoor pole vault; 2016 outdoor pole vault)
Taylor Grove (2018 outdoor 10,000 meters; 2019 indoor 3,000 meters)
Sarah Lewis (2019 indoor 4x400m relay)
Samantha Liermann (2017 outdoor shot put; 2018 indoor shot put; 2018 outdoor shot put)
Nathan Matters (2017 indoor 4x400m relay; 2017 outdoor 4x400m relay)
Josiah McAllister (2017 outdoor 4x400m relay; 2019 indoor 1,000 meters)
Jamie Nikodym (2019 indoor 4x400m relay)
Jacee Pfeifer (2019 indoor 4x400m relay)
Thomas Taylor (2019 indoor 800 meters)
Cody Williams (2018 outdoor decathlon; 2019 indoor heptathlon)
GPAC teams in the USTFCCCA NAIA rankings
*Rankings from May 1
Men
9 – Doane
15 – Midland
18 – Concordia
22 – Dordt
24 – Hastings
42 – Dakota Wesleyan
47 – Mount Marty
48 – Northwestern
71 – Morningside
119 – Briar Cliff
140 – Jamestown
Women
3 – Concordia
5 – Doane
9 – Hastings
21 – Dakota Wesleyan
30 – Dordt
37 – Morningside
65 – Northwestern
92 – Jamestown
110 – Midland