ST. PAUL, Minn.- The Concordia-St. Paul track and field team will be competing in two separate meets this weekend. Part of the team is set to compete in the Bearcat Invite hosted by Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo. on Friday and Saturday, and others will stay local to compete in the Gene Glader Classic hosted by Bethel in St. Paul on Saturday.
Originally set to only compete in the Bearcat Invite on Saturday, Head Coach Sam Johnson felt "the pentathlon and heptathlon fields were just too good to pass up and there are a few distance races on that Friday night as well that will have some entries."
The Golden Bears will send 24 athletes to Maryville. Six women will compete in seven events, including Arika Robinson who will compete in the pentathlon. She currently places eighth among Division II athletes with her collegiate best score of 3623 that she earned at the SDSU Holiday Open & Multi in December, 2021.
Robinson will also compete in the high jump event. She has a current personal record of 1.77m earned in December in Brookings and that jump placed her tied for second place among Division II athletes, per TFRRS.org.
The men will send 20 athletes to compete in 15 events. As mentioned by Coach Johnson, five athletes will compete in the heptathlon, including Jakob Tordsen who places best on the team with a previous record of 5026 also earned at the SDSU Holiday Open & Multi in 2021. His score earned him an NCAA DII provisional mark and he currently places 14th among DII competitors.
Eben Mundfrom, who currently places 24th among DII throwers, will compete in the weight throw. His current best mark of 18.68m was earned last month at the Minnesota Open and also earned him an NCAA DII provisional mark.
The Gene Glader will host 28 Golden Bears who will compete across 20 events. The men's 12 athletes are set to participate in the 60m dash, the 200m dash, the 400m dash, the 1000m run, the one mile, the 3000m run, the 60m hurdles, the high jump, and the pole vault.
Breonna Graham and Anna Sajdak will make collegiate debuts in certain events at the Gene Glader Classic. Graham will make her first collegiate attempts in both the 60m dash and the 200m dash while Sajdak will make her first showing in the 1000m run.
The 16 women who will represent CSP will compete in 11 events in St. Paul including the 60m dash, the 200m dash, the 400m dash, the 600m run, the 800m run, the 1000m run, the one mile, the 3000m run, the pole vault, the shot put, and the weight throw.
Five male athletes will debut in six events including Kaleb Kazmarek who will debut in both the pole vault and the 200m dash.
Following the weekend of two meets, the track and field team will prepare for the NSIC Indoor Challenge hosted by Minnesota State in Mankato on Saturday, Feb. 12.
