2017-18 Stories of the Year (No. 1): National appearances highlight athletic year
MEQUON, Wis. – The 2017-18 athletic year was another successful one for the Concordia Wisconsin Athletic Department. The Falcons won and contended for conference championships in many sports and put together an impressive list of great achievements. As in years past, the Department of Athletic Communications tries to sort through all the great moments and give you, the fans, top stories from the past year.
The list of stories was compiled by the Department of Athletic Communications and, like all lists, is subject to debate.
Story No. 1
National appearances highlight athletic year
It was another highly successful athletic year for Concordia Wisconsin and six teams advanced to the national stage, along with a track & field sprinter.
The Women’s Volleyball team began the run of appearances by teams, after winning the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular season and tournament titles for the second-consecutive season. They drew No. 17 Carthage in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and rebounded after dropping the opening two sets, by taking the third in strong fashion, 25-14, before eventually falling 3-1 to end a record-setting season. Overall, they had a 28-3 record, which is the most wins by any team in program history and 22 of those wins ended in a sweep.
Fast-forward to the spring with five more teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament and Samuel Spranger competing in the 400-meter dash.
Both tennis teams dominated the NACC again, with each walking away with the regular season and tournament championships. The women’s team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third-consecutive year, while the men’s team became the first NACC program to ever score a point at the national level. The combination of Nolan Rademacher and Brad Guendel won their No. 1 doubles opponents 8-5, before Rademacher took a 7-6, 6-3 decision at No. 1 singles. The women's program competed against host No. 34 UW-Whitewater and the men took on Grinnell.
Acrobatics and Tumbling continued to grow and improve, and five student-athletes earned the right to compete at the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association Event Finals. The combination of Jacqueline Albino, Jordan Ireland, Jofflyn Zaremba, Anna Smith and Danielle Krumins made history for the program by competing in the Pyramid Event Heat 3.
The newly added club sport of Shooting competed twice during the year and was accomplished in both events, with the trio of Mikaela Leach, Grant Steinike and Andrew Handrich combining to win the Optics Rifle event at Nationals with a time of 276.59. As well, Leach was the fastest woman in the Optics Rifle with a time of 52.92.
Women’s Golf returned to Florida for the NCAA Tournament third time in program history in early May. The Falcons competed against the best talent in the country and junior Kayla Haen led the lineup with a 270 (94-91-95) three-day total.
The 2017-18 athletic year came to an end with Samuel Spranger competing for the first time at the NCAA Championships. He ran a 48.30 time in the 400-meters after setting a NACC Outdoor Track & Field Championship record of 48.09 just three weeks prior.
2017-18 Stories of the Year
HM: Individual athletes honored as the best
No. 5: Men’s Soccer back to the top of the NACC
No. 4: Tennis programs continue NACC dominance
No. 3: Women win four fall championships, land another All-Sports Award
No. 2: Barker, Erdman land All-American accolades
No. 1: National appearances highlight athletic year
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