ST.PAUL, Minn. — The Concordia-St. Paul men's cross-country team opens its 2025 season at the Augie Twilight on Sept. 5 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Golden Bears will race at 9 p.m. under the lights at Yankton Trails.
CSP closed out the 2024 season with an eighth place finish at the NSIC Championships and a 20th place finish at the NCAA Central Regional. The Golden Bears continued to make strides during the track and field season as well with four runners qualifying for the NSIC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
"Our returners had good summer training, and in the workouts we've seen, they've made good jumps," Head Coach Jonathan Breitbarth said. " … their workouts are showing that their aerobic base is a lot stronger than it was last year for each of them individually."
From a size standpoint the roster remains the same but the makeup has changed as the Golden Bears welcome six freshmen runners to the team to slot in with the seven returning members.
Meet the team: Returners
Concordia returns seven runners from last year's squad including two who made strides during the outdoor track and field season. Andrew Alexander placed fifth in the 10K at the NSIC Outdoor championships and Ethan Blischke finished eighth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.
Sophomores Travis Tock and Zay Acosta also made strides during the Outdoor Season as well, qualifying for conference championships.
"Part of the key to our season is how they've made that jump from freshman to sophomore," Breitbarth said. "Both of them have shown that they've made jumps … I see them as being key returning contributors."
After recording career bests in the four mile, 8K and 10K last season Andrew Alexander was named as the Golden Bears Player to Watch entering this season. The junior looks to continue his steady development and be a key contributor for CSP this season.
"His development has really come from his consistency and quality of his long runs," Breitbarth said. "That's where he's kind of made that jump."
Ethan Blischke is another returning runner that looks to continue his development after finishing last season with a career best 8K time of 26:07.7 at the NSIC Championships. In the offseason Blischke's training included balancing an internship with training.
"Ethan had a pretty extensive internship, which requires prioritization and dedication to running at odd hours that you're not used to," Breitbarth said. "And he showed maturity in that balance of both academics and athletics."
CSP also returns seniors Andrew Boyum, Jose Nevarez-Ramirez and Josh Krummel.
Meet the team: Newcomers
Six freshmen join the Golden Bears this fall, with a large incoming class part of the offseason included getting the newcomers up to speed.
"All the guys that are coming in have state meet experience, but they're making that adjustment from high school to college," Breitbarth said. "So we're spending more intentional time really bringing them up to speed, getting them to understand how to best kind of stress the body and let the body adapt to what we're doing."
One of the freshmen standouts in preseason workouts is Brock Johnson. Johnson comes to Concordia from Windsor Heights, Iowa and looks to make an immediate impact for the Golden Bears.
"He's been showing in workouts that he is in good shape," Breitbarth said. "He would from a general standpoint say 'Hey coach things are moving well and I'm feeling more fit than I ever have' … initially out of the gates, I'd say Brock is someone that I'm really at kind of hitting the ground running."
This year's freshmen class also includes Nathaniel Merrell, Jordan Stumm, Matthew Urgiles-Suarez and Jovani Iglesias along with redshirt freshman Eddie Burlingame.
Meet the team: Coaching staff
Anna Sajdak joins the Golden Bears coaching staff this season after competing as a runner from 2021-24. Sajdak earned NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence honors in 2023 and 2024, she also finished her senior season with a 6K time of 24:51.5 at the NCAA Division II Central Region Cross Country Championships.
"It's good to have an assistant who is able to speak up and call out the blind spots," Breitbarth said. "And fill in a complete coaching experience for our student-athletes."
Schedule preview
The Golden Bears open the season at the Augie Twilight, with three other regular season meets scheduled. On Sept. 19 CSP will compete locally at the Roy Griak invitational, the team will also compete in the UW-Eau Claire invitational in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on Oct. 3.
"We added the UW-Eau Claire meet just to get a little more feedback from the runners," Breitbarth said. "And being a younger team just having another opportunity to kind of race and build those racing strategies."
The NSIC Championships will take place Oct. 24 in Wayne, Nebraska, NCAA Central Region Championships are scheduled for Nov. 8 in Joplin, Missouri.
Conference outlook
The Golden Bears were picked to finish eighth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll with81 points. Defending champion Augustana was picked first in the preseason poll after winning the NSIC for the fifth year in a row. MSU Moorhead's Chase Hoechst was voted as the NSIC Preseason Athlete of the Year.
"For us it's going to be how well our freshmen make the transition," Breitbarth said. "We're going to need some depth at our 3-4-5 runners, strengthening that is going to put us higher in the conference."
