King’s javelin national title voted top CUNE athletic feat of 2013-14
SEWARD, Neb. – In an Internet fan poll conducted by the athletic communications department, Liz King’s national title in the javelin has been voted the top Concordia athletic feat of the 2013-14 season. The award is designed to honor the most impressive single performance at a single game/competition, rather than for an entire season or series of events.
King, a sophomore in 2013-14, garners top billing thanks to a particularly dominant effort at the 2014 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. Three weeks after shattering the GPAC meet record in the javelin, the native of Billings, Mont., won the event at nationals by more than 15 feet with her toss of 164’ 8” on May 22.
“King's national championship was in a word, amazing,” throws coach Ed McLaughlin said. “I am still in shock that she is a national champion. I have always been impressed with her ability to compete and that is what she did in Alabama. Her first throw was her 'safe' throw and would have placed her second. Then her next five throws were better then everyone else's efforts. We never assume that you have it won until it's over but after her fifth throw, no one else had anything left. It was a great competition and fun to watch. Liz is a great person and she worked hard to become the national champion.”
That big-time performance made King Concordia’s first female national champion since Stephanie Beberniss won both indoor and outdoor pole vault titles in 2003. King has also won GPAC javelin titles in each of her first two seasons as a Bulldog.
Runner up
There’s little doubt that senior catcher Amber Topil delivered one of the more thrilling moments of the 2013-14 athletic season. With one out and one on and the scored tied 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth at the GPAC Tournament on May 2, Topil crushed a walk-off home run to knock off Midland. The dramatic homer clinched at least a runner up GPAC Tournament finish as well as the softball program’s first-ever appearance at the national tournament.
Next in line
The top three athletic feats of the season all went to Concordia female athletes, according to the vote. GPAC women’s basketball player of the year Bailey Morris drops in at No. 3 with her school single-game record-breaking performance of 45 points in an 89-78 win over then third-ranked Northwestern on Feb. 15. Morris went 12-for-26 from the field, 4-for-8 from the 3-point line and 17-for-18 from the charity stripe on the way to breaking the former record of 37 points by Amber Kistler.
