(Ann Arbor, MI) Concordia men's track & field hosted the outdoor Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Championships this past Thursday and Friday. The Cardinals posted a 9th place finish at the Thunder Sports Complex.
Top honors included Andrew Wiemer (Junior; Meridian, ID) taking home the men's team Champion of Character award and Noah Starkey (Sophomore; Macomb, MI) qualifying for the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Championships. Starkey posted a season best time of 51.28 in the 400m dash, just missing out of scoring position for the Cardinals.
Starkey, Jordan Foy (Freshman; Columbia, SC), Jeremiah Salas (Freshman; Decatur, MI) and Kash Warren (Senior; Lorain, OH) ran the 4x100m taking 6th place and crossing the finish in a time of 43.36. Salas and Warren competed in the 100m and 200m dashes together. In the 100m dash, Warren and Salas ran 11.30 and 11.36, respectively. In the 200m dash, Salas finished just ahead of Warren, running 23.27 and 23.37. Logan Hay (Houston, TX) ran a personal best time of 23.92 in the 200m. Competing in the 100m dash was Maurice Kado (Beechwood, OH), running a personal best time of 11.60. Kado went on to compete in the long jump, jumping 5.62m for a personal best jump.
In the throwing events, Senior Richard Branch (Detroit, MI) took 7th in the javelin throw, tossing 44.44m. Junior Zachary Belinsky (Beulah, MI) threw a personal best in the hammer throw with a throw of 40.71m. The mark also qualified him for the NCCAA Championships. He also threw 11.96m in the shot put and 31.05m in the discus. Other Cardinals in the discus throw included ToRohn Yancey (Detroit, MI), Ethan Szabados (Brownstown, MI) and Joshua Wood (Champagne, IL). The trio threw 28.45m, 26.57m, and 24.10m, respectively. Wood also competed in the hammer throw, tossing 23.10m.
In addition to throwing 30.22m with the hammer, Yancey took the top throw for the Cardinals in the shot put, throwing 12.21m. He was joined by fellow freshman Scott Smith (Saginaw, MI) who threw 11.77m with the shot. Smith also threw 38.81m in the javelin throw alongside freshman Mason Wyllis (Holt, MI) who threw 26.49m, and junior Adam Dahl (Owosso, MI) who threw 28.27m in his javelin debut. Junior Michael Brannan (Dearborn Height, MI) wrapped up the javelin squad with a toss of 39.18m.
Dahl and Brannan ran the 800m together, running 2:27.01 and 2:16.37, respectively. Also in the 800m race was Noah Finley (Monroe, MI), who crossed the finish in a time of 2:24.71. Finley went on to compete in the 1,500m race with Theodore Eising (Royal Oak, MI) and Luke Bentz (Fort Wayne, IN). While Finley raced a near personal best time of 5:23.49, Eising and Bentz both shaved off seconds to race 4:28.95 and 4:19.36, respectively, for personal best times.
The 4x800 relay team raced to an 8th place finish and personal best times for Avery Sanchez (Allen Park, MI), Bentz, Eising and Brannan, crossing the finish in a time of 8:39.93. Sanchez also went on to run 11:18.96 in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Brannan, Starkey, Bentz and Hay wrapped up the track events with the 4x400m relay, running 3:37.27, for a 6th place finish.
Also, on Saturday WHAC All-Academic teams were named which involves being a junior in Academic standing and having a cumulative GPA of 3.25. Three Cardinals were named Academic All-Conference including Zachary Belinsky, Theodore Eising, and Andrew Wiemer.
Andrew Wiemer was also recognized as the team's WHAC Champion of Character. The junior was honored for his commitment to the five core values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership.
The Cardinals compete next week at the National Christian College Athletic Association Championships at Greenville University. Keep up with the team as they compete May 12-13, 2022 in Greenville, IL by following the team on social media - CUAAXCTF.
