An update and preview on Concordia athletics

Concordia University athletic director Mo Roberson is looking for a big season from the Eagle teams.

Concordia University is moving up to NCAA Division II athletics this year. Athletic director Mo Roberson brings us up to date on Eagle athletics.

Please list some highlights of the past school year:

ROBERSON: Our overall athletics program finished third in PacWest Conference Commissioners Cup (we have finished third and seventh in past three years).

We had 162 student-athletes earn 2018 Academic All-PacWest (last year 167) out of 400 plus student-athletes.

Softball won our second PacWest Title (women’s volleyball 2017, men’s basketball tied in 2016) and softball participated in first-ever West Region losing to Dixie St. (we also hosted the West Region Tournament which was a first for us).

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo.

Ryann Ferguson (softball) was a three-time PacWest Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year and freshmen superstar Callie Nunes was named 2018 Schutt Sports/NFCA D2 National Player of the Year.

Sarah Herron (Sr./Long Jump) finished 17th at NCAA DII Outdoor Track and Field National Championships and also competed in NCAA DII Indoor Track and Field National Championships where she finished 11th. Sarah was our first-ever NCAA Championship competitor in any sport (historic).

BACKGROUND ON CONCORDIA’S MOVE TO NCAA DIVISION II STATUS:

• Concordia University received approval from the NCAA to become a full NCAA DII (Division II) member. The private nonprofit four-year university was notified by NCAA officials that it had successfully completed the three-year membership process, making it the only NCAA Division II school in Orange County.
• “We are very excited to become a full NCAA Division II member,” said Concordia University Irvine President Kurt Krueger.
• In July 2014, when the university began the process, Concordia Irvine was accepted into and began competing as a Provisional Member of the PacWest (Pacific West) Conference and the NCAA Division II.
• PacWest Conference institutions are Academy of Art, Azusa Pacific University, Biola, Chaminade, Concordia, Dominican, Fresno Pacific University, Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii Pacific, Holy Names, Notre Dame De Namur and Point Loma Nazarene University. The PacWest falls within the NCAA Division II West Region, along with the California Collegiate Athletic Association and Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Women’s basketball had an amazing turnaround this year under the leadership of Coach Christine Collins-Kiernan. Arguably one of the best years in CUI women’s basketball ever, but definitely for the NCAA era, was the best. The team earned a number four seed in PacWest Tournament, in their first year of eligibility. They finished fourth in a very tough conference, where normally two or three teams advance into tough West Region.

Michaela Vanderklugt earned first-ever Freshmen of the Year honor for CUI Athletics in any sport, and was also named third team All-PacWest. She was named Freshmen of the Week numerous times. Montana Walters was an All-PacWest Honorable Mention and collected a COSIDA All-Academic All-District Honor.

Men’s basketball claimed first-ever team post-season win during the PacWest tournament, where they advanced to the semi-final game.

JT Roach shattered the PacWest and CUI record for three-pointers by hitting 12 in a game (most in NCAA in 2018) against Chaminade (ended with 40 points). This tied him for third all-time in points in a game and a tie for sixth in three-point shooting percentage (.667).

Men’s volleyball might have had one of the most historic seasons in CUI history if not NCAA DII volleyball. Men’s volleyball was picked to finish last in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation by its coaches, and finished the year in 4th place. They had wins over USC, Loyola-Chicago (ranked 6th), BYU (ranked 2nd), CSUN, Grand Canyon, etc.

Men’s volleyball beat No. 2 BYU at BYU in front 4000 and competed in the MPSF Volleyball tournament, which to our knowledge is first-time ever for a DII team (Grand Canyon, CBU, UCSD…previous D2 schools), and advanced to MPSF semi-finals.

Several Eagles garnered recognition, but Jacob Weiser probably captured the biggest, as he was named Erik Shoji Libero of the Year, meaning he was the best in the country. He was also second team All-MPSF and also named to the Volleymob All-American Third Team. Chandler Gibb (Jr./Setter) was second team All-MPSF and made the All-Conference team as well. Hunter Howell (Jr./Middle-Blocker) named All-American Honorable Mention by AVCA.

How many sports is Concordia competing in now?

ROBERSON: Overall we have 24 programs.

Men: baseball, basketball, cross-country, soccer, swimming and  diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, and lacrosse (club).

Women: Basketball, beach volleyball, cheer, cross country, softball, soccer, stunt, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo, dance and lacrosse (club).

Who are the new coaches for Concordia?

ROBERSON: Our two newest coaches are Christine Collins-Kiernan (women’s basketball) and Brian Cooper (Club Lacrosse).

 Anything special to be looking for in the fall season?

ROBERSON: Yes, with approval of our master plan by the City of Irvine, we have begun work on phase 1 of it. This includes the Music, Worship and Theology (MWT) Building, which will be a great building for learning and instruction. I am excited, also because we will begin renovation of our baseball facility within this plan as well add lights. We are re-doing the seating at baseball facility, re-doing dugouts, moving backstop up and replacing chain-link with netting. We also look forward to re-doing batting cage as it is in despair. We have also tried to modify our locker rooms within CU Arena to accommodate teams, officials and staff.

As for the season, we look to improve on the number of student-athletes named all-PacWest Academic as well as raise our GPA pass the current 3.21 mark. Our goal is 3.4 for our department. We also expect to compete for the PacWest Commissioners Cup title, but more importantly we want to create a great experience for our student-athletes and community by the way we compete. Ultimately, the goal is to grow our student-athletes into wise, honorable and cultivated citizens.