Meet Preview: 2021 NAIA Outdoor National Championships

By Jacob Knabel on May. 23, 2021 in Track & Field

SEWARD, Neb. – Thirty-seven Bulldog athletes, along with coaches and staff members, are making final preparations for the 2021 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. The meet will run Wednesday through Friday (May 26-28) at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium Complex in Gulf Shores, Ala. Head Coach Matt Beisel and Concordia University Track & Field will make a return to Gulf Shores after the 2020 national outdoor meet was wiped out by COVID-19. Gulf Shores has served as the location for the NAIA outdoor national championships since 2014.

Beisel believes the Bulldog women can make a run at a team national title while the men have hopes of landing inside the NAIA top 10. The Concordia women’s team has been ranked No. 1 in the NAIA (according to the USTFCCCA) for the entire outdoor season. Gulf Shores has been good to the program with the Bulldogs having celebrated a men’s national title in 2015 and a women’s national championship in 2016 in that location.

Meet Info

2021 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships
May 26-28, 2021
Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium Complex | Gulf Shores, Ala.
-Meet Schedule
-Live Streaming: NAIA Network
-Live Results: NAIA Website
-Online Tickets: https://naiaoutdoortrack-2021.simpletix.com/

The full schedule for Concordia competitors can be viewed below. There will be enough Bulldog athletes in action fill up all three days of the national meet. Two-time 400 meter national champion Rachel Battershell will compete in two separate individual events and is slated to join the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays. Elsewhere, Concordia stars Jacob Cornelio, Josie Puelz and Addie Shaw will attempt to repeat as national champions. Shaw won discus titles at both the 2018 and 2019 NAIA national meets. Shaw is currently ranked No. 1 nationally in the hammer and shot put. Other Bulldog national leaders include Cornelio (hammer), Puelz (pole vault) and Elizabeth Stottlemyre (javelin).

This past week’s release of national qualifiers includes a breakdown of Bulldogs with the most national experience, as well as those who are making their first career appearances at a national meet. Read that release HERE. Eight 2021 Concordia outdoor national qualifiers have already collected multiple All-America awards in their careers: Battershell (six), Cornelio (five), Morgan De Jong (two), Sarah Lewis (four), Erin Mapson (three), Jacee Pfeifer (four), Puelz (two) and Shaw (eight).

As a show of the Concordia women’s dominance this outdoor season, the Bulldogs swept the NAIA women’s Midwest Region awards: Matt Beisel (Coach of the Year), Ed McLaughlin (Assistant Coach of the Year), Battershell (Women’s Track Athlete of the Year) and Shaw (Women’s Field Athlete of the Year). According to the USTFCCCA, the Concordia women own the NAIA’s best event squads in the 400 hurdles, pole vault, shot put, discus, hammer and heptathlon.

At the five most recent NAIA national outdoor meets, the Bulldog women have turned in team place finishes of fifth, 12th, sixth, first and fifth, respectively. The men’s outdoor national finishes during the same time have been 31st, 69th, fifth, second and first, respectively.

Concordia Meet Schedule

DAY 1
Heptathlon – (Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.) Emily Loy, Amy Richert
Women’s Hammer – (Wednesday, 2 p.m.) Sarah Ragland, Adrianna Shaw, Bethany Shaw
Women’s Javelin – (Wednesday, 3 p.m.) Elizabeth Stottlemyre
Women’s 4x100m Relay – (Wednesday, 3:40 p.m.) Emily Loy, Rachel Battershell, Hannah Mulligan, Cora Olson
--Alternates: Amira Cummings, Sarah Lewis, Sydni Schernikau
Men’s 4x100m Relay – (Wednesday, 4:10 p.m.) Cade Kleckner, Joel Rathe, Jacob Jennings, Colton Meyer
--Alternates: Henry Reimer
Women’s Pole Vault – (Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.) Amira Cummings, Erin Mapson, Josie Puelz
Men’s Hammer – (Wednesday, 5 p.m.) Andy Amos, Dagne’ Buck, Jacob Cornelio, Ben Moll, Jerod Peters, Chris Wren
Women’s 400m Hurdles – (Wednesday, 5:10 p.m.) Sarah Lewis
Men’s 200m – (Wednesday, 6:15 p.m.) Cade Kleckner

DAY 2
Heptathlon – (Thursday, 10:30 a.m.) Emily Loy, Amy Richert
Women’s Shot Put – (Thursday, 2:30 p.m.) Jordyn Anderson, Abigail Gerber, Elle Luehr, Adrianna Shaw
Women’s 100m Hurdles – (Thursday, 3 p.m.) Rachel Battershell
Men’s High Jump – (Thursday, 4:30 p.m.) Wyatt Loga
Men’s Discus – (Thursday, 5 p.m.) Jacob Cornelio
Women’s 400m – (Thursday, 5:00pm) Rachel Battershell
Women’s 4x400m Relay – (Thursday, 9:15 p.m.) Jacee Pfeifer, Sarah Lewis, Sydni Schernikau, Rachel Battershell
--Alternates: Keri Bauer
Men’s 4x400m Relay – (Thursday, 9:45 p.m.) Cade Kleckner, Jacob Jennings, Henry Reimer, Colton Meyer
--Alternates: Maccoy Menke, Joel Rathe

DAY 3
Men’s Shot Put – (Friday, 1 p.m.) Jerod Peters
Women’s Discus Throw – (Friday, 2 p.m.) Morgan De Jong, Sara Huss, Alli Owings, Erin Painter, Adrianna Shaw, Bethany Shaw
Women’s High Jump – (Friday, 2 p.m.) Mackenzie Koepke, Amy Richert
Women’s 4x100m Relay-Final – (Friday, 2:40 p.m.)
Men’s 4x100m Relay-Final – (Friday, 2:50 p.m.)
Women’s 100m Hurdles-Final – (Friday, 3:20 p.m.)
Women’s 400m Hurdles-Final – (Friday, 4:10 p.m.)
Women’s 400m-Final – (Friday, 4:30 p.m.)
Men’s 200m-Final – (Friday, 5:20 p.m.)
Women’s 4x400m Relay-Final – (Friday, 6:15 p.m.)
Men’s 4x400m Relay-Final – (Friday, 6:25 p.m.)

2021 Concordia Outdoor National Qualifiers
Andy Amos, sophomore (first trip to nationals)
Jordyn Anderson, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Rachel Battershell, sophomore (fifth trip to nationals; six All-America awards; two-time 400 meter national champ)
Keri Bauer, junior (second trip to nationals)
Dagne’ Buck, sophomore (first trip to nationals)
Jacob Cornelio, senior (seventh trip to nationals; five All-America awards; 2020 weight throw national champ)
Amira Cummings, freshman (second trip to nationals)
Morgan De Jong, junior (fourth trip to nationals; two All-America awards)
Abigail Gerber, freshman (second trip to nationals)
Sara Huss, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Jacob Jennings, senior (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Cade Kleckner, junior (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Mackenzie Koepke, sophomore (second trip to nationals)
Sarah Lewis, sophomore (fifth trip to nationals; four All-America awards)
Wyatt Loga, freshman (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Emily Loy, junior (third trip to nationals)
Elle Luehr, sophomore (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Erin Mapson, sophomore (fourth trip to nationals; three All-America awards)
Maccoy Menke, freshman (second trip to nationals)
Colton Meyer, freshman (third trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Ben Moll, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Hannah Mulligan, sophomore (first trip to nationals)
Cora Olson, sophomore (second trip to nationals)
Alli Owings, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Erin Painter, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Jerod Peters, senior (third trip to nationals)
Jacee Pfeifer, sophomore (fifth trip to nationals; four All-America awards)
Josie Puelz, freshman (third trip to nationals; two All-America awards; 2021 indoor pole vault national champ)
Sarah Ragland, junior (fourth trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Joel Rathe, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Henry Reimer, junior (fifth trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Amy Richert, freshman (second trip to nationals)
Sydni Schernikau, sophomore (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Addie Shaw, senior (eighth trip to nationals; eight All-America awards; 2018 and 2019 discus national champ; three-time national runner up)
Bethany Shaw, senior (fourth trip to nationals)
Elizabeth Stottlemyre, senior (first trip to NAIA nationals; qualified for NCAA DII nationals in 2018)
Chris Wren, freshman (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)