SEWARD, Neb. – Concordia University Track & Field will be represented at the Drake Relays and the Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolf Invite as part of this week’s action. These will be the final outings prior to the 2022 GPAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships coming up May 6-7. The list of Bulldog entries for the Drake Relays includes five athletes competing as individuals and a total of five relays (three women’s and two men’s relays). For most of the team, the Prairie Wolf Invite will be the main focus for this week.
Meet Info
Prairie Wolf Invite (April 28)
12 p.m. | Woody Greeno Track | Lincoln, Neb.
LINKS
--Live Results
--Event Schedule (PDF)
Drake Relays (April 29-30)
Drake Stadium | Des Moines, Iowa
LINKS
--Meet Info
--Live Results
--Tickets
--Event Schedule (PDF)
Concordia entries at Drake Relays
· Women’s CD 4x800m Relay: Rylee Haecker, Kylahn Heritage, Jenna Esch, Keri Bauer (8:50am, Friday)
· Women’s CD 4x100m Relay: Rachel Battershell, Brittney Aitken, Sarah Lewis, Cora Olson (9:14am, Friday)
· Men’s CD 4x100m Relay: Cade Kleckner, Joel Rathe, Jacob Jennings, Xavier Ross (9:30am, Friday)
· Women’s UD/CD Pole Vault: Josie Puelz (1:00pm, Friday)
· Women’s CD 4x400m Relay: Sarah Lewis, Jordan Koepke, Jacee Pfeifer, Rachel Battershell (3:01pm, Friday)
· Men’s CD 4x400m Relay: Jacob Jennings, Cade Kleckner, Colton Myer, Xavier Ross (3:23pm, Friday)
· Women’s UD/CD 400m: Rachel Battershell (5:26pm, Friday)
· Men’s UD/CD High Jump: Wyatt Loga (6:00pm, Friday)
· Women’s UD/CD Hammer Throw: Sarah Ragland (11:30am, Saturday)
· Men’s UD/CD Hammer Throw: Chris Wren (2:30pm, Saturday)
Four new automatic national qualifying marks were added last week as Concordia competed at the Jim Dutcher Memorial Classic hosted by Doane. Those marks came courtesy of Cade Kleckner (200 meters), Sarah Lewis (100 meters), Alli Owings (discus) and Erin Painter (discus). Kleckner broke the school record in the 200 meters with his time of 21.30. The previous school standard had been 21.34 set by Frank Wilson in 1997. There were also a number of new ‘B’ standards thanks to the women’s 4x100 meter relay (48.19), Zach Bennetts (pole vault), Jordan Koepke (100 hurdles), Painter (hammer) and Kamryn Pokorney (shot put). Below is a list of the 15 automatic national qualifying performances this season by Bulldogs.
2022 Outdoor ‘A’ Standards
· Women’s 4x400m relay (3:53.07)
· Women’s 4x800m relay (9:18.80)
· Chase Berry – pole vault (15’ 9”)
· Morgan De Jong – hammer (176’ 4”)
· Sara Huss – discus (152’ 7”)
· Cade Kleckner – 200 meters (21.30)
· Jordan Koepke – 400 hurdles (1:02.82)
· Sarah Lewis – 400 hurdles (1:02.70); 100 hurdles (14.53)
· Erin Mapson – pole vault (11’ 11 ¾”)
· Alli Owings – discus (156’ 8”)
· Erin Painter – discus (150’ 3”)
· Josie Puelz – pole vault (13’ 5 ¼”)
· Sarah Ragland – hammer (175’ 5”)
· Chris Wren – hammer (194’ 5”)
The Concordia women appeared at No. 4 in last week’s NAIA national ratings index released by the USTFCCCA. In other words, the Bulldogs expect to be in the running once again for a team national trophy. Concordia placed third nationally this past indoor season. As one example of the team’s impressive depth, six different Bulldogs have earned GPAC Athlete of the Week awards during the 2022 indoor/outdoor seasons: Sarah Lewis (Dec. 15), Morgan De Jong (Jan. 19), Sarah Ragland (Feb. 2), Erin Mapson (Feb. 9), Josie Puelz (April 6) and Jordan Koepke (April 20).
In the most recent event squad rankings calculated by the USTFCCCA, Concordia ranked No. 1 nationally in the following event groupings: men’s hammer, women’s pole vault, women’s shot put and women’s hammer. The Bulldogs were also No. 2 in the women’s discus and could rise to No. 1 after this past week’s results. Owings (sixth), Huss (seventh) and Painter (ninth) are all sitting in the top 10 nationally in the discus. While Puelz leads the NAIA in the pole vault, the next highest rating for any Concordia event is the women’s 4x800 meter relay, which is holding down the No. 3 spot (9:18.80) in the NAIA.
The 2022 GPAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be hosted by Doane. More details on the meet will soon be available via the GPAC website HERE.