Concordia Early Bird Recap

SEWARD, Neb. – Though it was a limited crew for the Concordia Bulldog Early Bird meet, mainly field events and heptathletes, the Pioneers came to compete one last time before Christmas break.
 
Elijah Bergin and newcomer Dominic Colosimo started the fun on Friday by testing their overall athleticism in the multi-event heptathlon consisting of seven events over two days. Though it may be considered overall athleticism, it focuses on explosiveness and speed through jumps; long jump, high jump, and pole vault; throws, specifically, the shot put; and sprints; 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles; with a 1,000 meter run thrown in for good measure. Each event was given a score depending on time or distance for an individual and then added together to declare the overall winner. In the early events, Bergin and Colosimo made their names known. Bergin took third in the 60-meter dash and followed that with a first place showing in the long jump. Meanwhile, Colosimo grabbed two top five spots, 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, with an additional two top ten places, high jump and shot put. Overall, Colosimo earned the highest spot of the two Pioneers, finishing seventh overall.
 
In the individual field events on Saturday, senior Jacob Creswell led the charge among the Pioneer throwers with a personal best in the weight throw that placed him second in the Heart of America Conference and 18th in the NAIA national standings, currently. Alexander Dawkins followed with a top ten showing in the shot put, holding sixth place in the shot put and seventh place in the weight throw in the Heart of America standings. Meanwhile, for the Pioneer women, Rachel Nisly continued to show her God-given abilities in the shot put with a collegiate best throw giving her sixth in the meet which put her in first place, solidly, in the conference and 15th in the NAIA standings. Alicia Hernandez-Mast rounded out the top ten in the meet to set an indoor shot put best while grabbing third spot in the conference rankings. In the weight throw, Ella Margheim, set her personal best and in doing so grabbed the fifth spot in conference, currently. Hernandez-Mast holds the sixth spot in the conference in the weight throw with Margheim also holding the fifth spot in conference for the shot put. It is early in the season, but the throwers are, once again, proving to be a tough group to handle for conference opponents.
 
Switching events to where the athletes launch themselves versus implements, the jumpers were hitting their marks. Senior Nala Burns set the standard for the women Pioneers as she took second place overall in the long jump. Burns also qualified via a B-standard for the National event where she currently sits in the 7th spot of the NAIA rankings. She is also third in the Heart of America Conference. Only two places back, Olivia Young set a personal best while grabbing the fourth place for the meet, sixth place in the conference, and 11th spot in the NAIA national standings. Young went on to finish second in the triple jump with a B-standard national qualifying mark which placed her ninth in the NAIA and third in the Heart of America Conference. Also, for the Pioneer women, Jaidyn Tabony finished in the top ten, ninth place, in the triple jump to land in the seventh spot of the conference standings. Finally, for the women Pioneer jumpers, Taryn St. Clair showed improvement over the previous weekend to claim the runner-up spot in the high jump. This was her second best collegiate jump which also put her in the second spot in the conference and the twelfth spot in the NAIA.
 
Closing out the jumpers, the Pioneer men were also very impressive. Freshman Elijah Hall continued to explode off the boards as he set another personal record in the long jump to secure fourth place in the meet. His jump also placed him as fourth in the conference standings. Even though Hall was very strong, freshman Eriyon Stamps put on an aerial display in the triple jump which awed his teammates and opponents. He out-jumped his closest opponent by over a foot while claiming the meet record and an automatic birth to the NAIA National Championships. Currently, Stamps is first in the conference and third in the nation among NAIA athletes.
 
The Pioneers only had one athlete on the track for an individual event, not including the heptathletes. Lakin Essex represented the Pioneer women well with a first place showing in the 600 meter race. Her time put her third in the conference while giving her a solid top ten mark among NAIA athletes.
 
In summary, this was a solid performance for the Pioneers with three NAIA National meet qualifiers by given standards. The NAIA also recognizes any athlete in the top 20 rankings at the end of the season, regardless of whether or not they hit the prescribed standards. Currently that would place the Pioneer women in seven events and the Pioneer men in three.