SEWARD, Neb. – A group of 32 athletes will be headed to Marion, Ind., in representation of Concordia University Track & Field at the 2024 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. The outdoor national meet will take place at Indiana Wesleyan University for the second-straight year and for the sixth time in NAIA championship history. The first action from a Bulldog perspective will come in the women’s heptathlon as Josi Noble and Amy Richert take the Wildcat Complex center stage at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The meet will wrap up Friday evening with an awards ceremony. The top four place-finishing teams for both men and women earn trophies.
2024 NAIA National Championships – Meet Info
--Wednesday-Friday, May 22-24 | Indiana Wesleyan University (Wildcat Track & Field Complex)
--Live Results (Crossroads Timing)
--Live Webcast (NAIA Network)
--Meet Schedule
--Buy Tickets
Entering the meet, head coach Matt Beisel’s squads own national rankings of fifth on the women’s side and 11th on the men’s side, according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NAIA ratings index. The top-ranked teams are University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) on the men’s side and the University of British Columbia on the women’s side.
The Concordia women have hopes of returning home with a team trophy, as they did this past outdoor national meet (tied for third). The Bulldogs’ national qualifying roster features 11 past All-Americans: Rylee Haecker (10), Jenna Esch (six), Kylahn Freiberg (six), Jordan Koepke (six), Amy Richert (three), Trinity Tuls (three), Abby Gerber (two), Kayla Kirchner (one), Josi Noble (one), Zoey Walker (one) and Abi Wohlgemuth (one). Entering the competition, the highest seeded individual Concordia athlete is Koepke, who is No. 5 in the 400-meter hurdles. During Beisel’s tenure, the Bulldog women’s program has placed as high as third nationally at the NAIA outdoor championships while earning top-five placements of fifth in 2019, third in 2021 and fourth in 2022. The women’s 4x800-meter relay is poised to score big points once again after winning the 2024 indoor national title. That relay included Esch, Freiberg, Julie McIntyre and Freiberg. This will be the final collegiate meet for several major standouts on the women’s side, including Esch, Freiberg, Haecker and Koepke.
On the men’s side, the Bulldogs hope to build upon their NAIA indoor nationals finish of tied for eighth (24.5 points). Senior Zach Zohner will take his best shot at a sweep of ’24 NAIA indoor/outdoor pole vault national titles. He enters the meet ranked No. 1 with his outdoor personal best of 17 feet. Zohner is a three-time NAIA All-American. Five teammates have also claimed previous All-America awards: Mayson Ostermeyer (one), Calvin Rohde (one), Austen Rozelle (one), Darien Semedo (one) and Chris Wren (four). Wren is seeded No. 2 in the hammer throw with a personal best (213’ 8”) that ranks No. 3 in program history. The school record holder in the javelin (219’ 1”), Matthew Boyer will make his first career appearance at a national meet. The men’s action will open at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday with four athletes in the hammer throw, including Wren.
According to the USTFCCCA, the Bulldogs boast many event groupings that rank highly within the NAIA. Based on the coaches association’s event squad rankings, Concordia owns the nation’s top men’s pole vault. In addition, the Bulldogs rank No. 2 in the women’s 400 hurdles, No. 2 in the men’s and women’s hammer, No. 2 in the women’s heptathlon, No. 3 in the women’s shot put, No. 4 in the men’s discus, No. 4 in the men’s shot put, No. 5 in the women’s high jump, No. 5 in the women’s triple jump and fifth in the women’s 800 meters.
Both programs have won an NAIA outdoor national championship in their history. The men captured the NAIA banner in 2015 and the women followed in 2016. Both of those championships occurred in Gulf Shores, Ala., a location that hosted the national meet from 2014 through 2022.
A live stream of each of the events will be available for purchase. For more details, check out the NAIA Network home page here: https://www.naianetwork.com/.
2024 Concordia Outdoor National Qualifiers – a closer look
Connor Asche, junior (first trip to nationals)
Claire Beikmann, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Matthew Boyer, sophomore (first trip to nationals)
Jenna Esch, junior (fifth trip to nationals; six All-America awards)
Carson Fehlhafer, sophomore (second trip to nationals)
Kylahn Freiberg, senior (eighth trip to nationals; six All-America awards; 2023 indoor 1,000 meter national runner up; 2024 indoor mile national runner up)
Abby Gerber, junior (seventh trip to nationals; two All-America awards)
Rylee Haecker, senior (seventh trip to nationals; 10 All-America awards)
Luke Hammang, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Rhaya Kaschinske, junior (fifth trip to nationals)
Kayla Kirchner, sophomore (third trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Brady Klute, senior (second trip to nationals)
Jordan Koepke, junior (sixth trip to nationals; six All-America awards)
Emma Lloyd, junior (second trip to nationals)
Josi Noble, sophomore (fourth trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Mayson Ostermeyer, sophomore (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Kamryn Pokorney, junior (fourth trip to nationals)
Amy Richert, senior (seventh trip to nationals, three All-America awards)
Kellie Rhodes, senior (second trip to nationals)
Adrianna Rodencal, sophomore (fourth trip to nationals)
Calvin Rohde, senior (sixth trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Austen Rozelle, junior (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Isabelle Salters, junior (second trip to nationals)
Cambria Saunders, freshman (first trip to nationals)
Darien Semedo, senior (fourth trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Gretchen Stottlemyre, junior (second trip to nationals)
Kayla Svoboda, sophomore (third trip to nationals)
Trinity Tuls, junior (fifth trip to nationals; three All-America awards)
Zoey Walker, freshman (second trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Abi Wohlgemuth, junior (fourth trip to nationals; one All-America award)
Chris Wren, senior (eighth trip to nationals; four All-America awards; 2024 indoor weight throw national runner up)
Zach Zohner, senior (sixth trip to nationals; three All-America awards; 2024 indoor pole vault national champion; 2023 indoor pole vault national runner up)
Concordia Event Schedule – 2024 NAIA Outdoor T&F National Championships
Times are EDT
Wednesday, May 22
· Heptathlon (10:30 a.m.) – Josi Noble, Amy Richert
· Men’s Hammer (11:30 a.m.) – Connor Asche, Brady Klute, Darien Semedo, Chris Wren
· Women’s 4x100m Relay (3:00 p.m.) – Cambria Saunders, Kayla Kirchner, Kellie Rhodes, Adrianna Rodencal, Alternate: Isabelle Salters
· Women’s Hammer (3:30 p.m.) – Abby Gerber, Kamryn Pokorney, Abi Wohlgemuth
· Men’s Javelin (3:30 p.m.) – Matthew Boyer
· Women’s 1500m (3:50 p.m.) – Kylahn Freiberg
· Women’s 400m Hurdles (4:30 p.m.) – Jordan Koepke
· Women’s 4x800m Relay (6:15 p.m.) –Jenna Esch, Rylee Haecker, Rhaya Kaschinske, Kylahn Freiberg, Alternate: Claire Beikmann
· Women’s Javelin (7:00 p.m.) – Gretchen Stottlemyre
Thursday, May 23
· Heptathlon (11:00 a.m.) – Josi Noble, Amy Richert
· Women’s 100m Hurdles (2:00 p.m.) – Adrianna Rodencal, Kayla Svoboda
· Women’s Shot Put (2:30 p.m.) – Abby Gerber, Kamryn Pokorney
· Women’s 800m (2:30 p.m.) – Jenna Esch
· Men’s 5,000m Race Walk (5:15 p.m.) – Luke Hammang
· Men’s Discus (6:00 p.m.) – Austen Rozelle
· Women’s 4x800m Relay-Final (6:10 p.m.)
· Men’s 5,000m (7:35 p.m.) – Calvin Rohde
· Women’s 4x400m Relay (8:15 p.m.) – Jenna Esch, Kayla Kirchner, Trinity Tuls, Jordan Koepke, Alternate: Isabelle Salters
Friday, May 24
· Women’s Discus Throw (1:00 p.m.) – Emma Lloyd
· Men’s Pole Vault (1:00 p.m.) – Mason Ostermeyer, Zach Zohner
· Women’s 4x100m Relay-Final (1:40pm)
· Women’s High Jump (2:00 p.m.) – Zoey Walker
· Women’s 1500m-Final (2:00 p.m.)
· Women’s 100m Hurdles-Final (2:20 p.m.)
· Men’s Shot Put (3:00 p.m.) – Carson Fehlhafer, Darien Semedo
· Women’s 400m Hurdle-Final (3:10 p.m.)
· Women’s 800m-Final (3:50 p.m.)
· Men’s 5000m-Final (4:55 p.m.)
· Women’s 4x400m Relay-Final (5:15 p.m.)
Concordia indoor national finishes since 2000
2024: M – 8th | W – 3rd
2023: M – 31st | W – 6th
2022: M – 36th | W – 3rd
2021: M – 12th | W– 3rd
2020: M – 17th | W – 4th
2019: M – 9th | W – 9th
2018: M – 42nd | W – 9th
2017: M – 2nd | W – 7th
2016: M – 3rd | W – 5th
2015: M – 5th | W – 11th
2014: M – 17th | W – 11th
2013: M – 27th | W – 13th
2012: M – 38th | W – 29th
2011: M – 7th | W – 26th
2010: M – 15th | W – 12th
2009: M – 12th | W – 11th
2008: M – 7th | W – 14th
2007: M – 19th | W – 36th
2006: M – 5th | W – 29th
2005: M – 26th | W – 15th
2004: M – 7th | W – 27th
2003: M – 5th | W – 9th
2002: M – 20th | W –8th
2001: M – 12th | W – 21st
2000: M – 2nd | W – 12th
Concordia outdoor national finishes since 2005
2023: M – 26th | W – 23rd
2022: M –47th | W –4th
2021: M – 28th | W – 3rd
2019: M – 31st | W – 5th
2018: M – 69th | W – 12th
2017: M – 5th | W – 6th
2016: M – 2nd | W – 1st
2015: M – 1st | W – 5th
2014: M – 11th | W – 9th
2013: M – 42nd | W – 20th
2012: M – 57th | W – 15th
2011: M – 11th | W – 57th
2010: M – 24th | W – 14th
2009: M – 7th | W – 19th
2008: M – 11th | W – 29th
2007: M – 15th | W – 24th
2006: M – 7th | W – 28th
2005: M – 13th | W – 17th