How a purpose-driven way of life led Adrianna Rodencal to nationwide championship glory :: Track and Field :: Concordia University, Nebraska

It was the spring of Adrianna Rodencal. There she went gracefully gliding over limitations on her method to the 60-meter hurdle nationwide title in Gainesville, Fla., in March after which to a different within the 100-meter hurdles in Asheville, N.C., in May. Three separate occasions in a six-week span she was named the ladies’s NAIA National Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week. In her closing semester, she went to meets just like the Sevigne Husker Invitational and the Drake Relays and constantly knocked off rivals from the NCAA Division I degree.

As a senior, Rodencal’s star shined brighter than ever. Those who witnessed her noticed greatness at its highest type in relation to Concordia University, Nebraska Track & Field. From an leisure standpoint, she was as dependable as Cirque du Soleil, by no means failing to come back by means of irrespective of the stakes or the viewers.

In her last collegiate meet, Rodencal went out on prime. As she stated days later, “It was everything I could have asked for. We went into outdoor season going, we got one national champ – let’s make it two … To be first and second place in the hurdles (at outdoor nationals) and be GPAC Athlete of the Year is kind of crazy.”

The outcomes over 4 years as a Bulldog have been out of this world – two nationwide titles, eight NAIA All-America medals, 5 GPAC Athlete of the Year awards, 14 GPAC championships and college and GPAC meet information throughout the board in all hurdles occasions. She additionally averaged straight A’s whereas incomes Academic All-America standing as a Biochemistry main. It felt like there was nothing she couldn’t obtain if she set her thoughts to it.

Such unprecedented success didn’t occur by chance. The accolades are a byproduct of all of the unseen hours spent conditioning, lifting and coaching mentally, bodily and spiritually. Many of these hours over the previous 4 years have been spent alongside her occasion coach Mark Samuels, an influential mentor in her life. On the day of a meet, Rodencal dives into the Bible, journals and listens to uplifting music. She’s additionally identified to tear right into a pack of Trolli’s for her meet day sugar repair.

Those who see her actions each day are much less stunned by her many accomplishments. Said Head Track & Field Coach Matt Beisel following the 2026 indoor nationwide meet, “Adrianna has always had high expectations. You can have high expectations and not do the things you need to do to achieve those expectations. Here’s somebody that lives the lifestyle, takes care of the details, plans ahead, develops the proper mindset and is then able to reach these heights … She’s a great example to the rest of our athletes. You’ve got this ability, now here’s how you go about maximizing your chances at achieving success.”

Rodencal appears to consider each final element with out reaching the purpose of obsession. Her thoughtfulness extends to her coaches, professors, pals and teammates. In the aftermath of the tragic accident that claimed the lifetime of teammate Matthew Wing and hospitalized one other teammate, Noah Ramirez, Rodencal shared on social media how the crew was honoring each Matthew and Noah. The tragedy supplied perspective for Rodencal and everybody near the state of affairs.

The senior model of Rodencal was outfitted to deal with absolutely anything. Eventually, she understood that it was okay to not be good. Says Rodencal, “My freshman year, I thought I had to take it all on my own. I thought I had to be perfect every time I got on the track and every time I sat down for a test. That was a very rude awakening when that obviously didn’t happen. I just say to take everything as it comes and take time to work on yourself.”

The path to nationwide championship glory

Immense expectations adopted Adrianna Rodencal as she transitioned from Lincoln Lutheran High School to Concordia. Over her junior and senior years as a prep, Rodencal raked in a mixed eight particular person state gold medals, a two-year whole achieved solely as soon as earlier than within the historical past of Nebraska Class C women observe and subject. Is that perfection? That was the query an Omaha World-Herald reporter requested Rodencal within the aftermath of 4 extra state golds as a senior. She replied, “Near perfection.”

At her last state meet, Rodencal gained the 100 hurdles, 100 meters, 300 hurdles and 200 meters, in that order (she was additionally a part of a 4×100-meter relay state champion). Her time within the 100 hurdles was the quickest throughout all Nebraska courses on the 2022 state meet. In different phrases, it was a giant deal for Coach Matt Beisel and his workers to land Rodencal, the daughter of Concordia alums Joel and Korinna. It was a pure match. As Rodencal stated, “When I finally toured, I felt the family with not just the track team but also the community of Seward and everyone on campus. I was like, ‘this is really what I want.’” As Coach Samuels stated of her recruitment, “It was pretty clear that the experience was more important than chasing the high-end dream of trying to be Division I.”

The journey forward confirmed what Adrianna believed: she discovered the suitable place for her, roughly a 35-minute drive from the place she attended highschool. But if she believed every part was going to be easy crusing from right here, she had one other factor coming. It would take till her junior 12 months earlier than she would develop into an NAIA All-American for the primary time. It felt like a letdown for the ultra-competitive Rodencal, who definitely loved different early successes, as exemplified by her freshman 12 months sweep of girls’s GPAC Athlete of the Year awards and a fast resetting of the 60 hurdles faculty commonplace.

Even so, she felt like she had way more to present. The shut calls as a sophomore have been notably gut-wrenching. At the 2024 NAIA Indoor Championships, Rodencal missed the finals of the 60 hurdles by .01 seconds. Then on the 2024 NAIA Outdoor Championships, she fell .01 seconds off a qualifying time within the 100 hurdles. Seriously, in back-to-back nationwide meets she was a mere one-hundredth of a second too sluggish. Rodencal known as it a “God-has-a-different-plan-for-me moment.” Looking again, Samuels believes these circumstances “really drove her to take the next step in her training and refine her day-to-day routine with what it takes to achieve what she wanted to achieve.”

What others didn’t know on the time was that Rodencal was simply starting her path to superstardom on the collegiate degree. As a sophomore, Rodencal discovered one thing about herself that will develop into a gamechanger. It was throughout Christmas break of her sophomore 12 months that she determined to have her iron ranges checked by a physician. As a Biochemistry main, Rodencal may give you a whole (and nerdy) breakdown of what was occurring along with her physique. Long story brief, she found she was iron poor, inflicting her to expertise “drop offs” throughout coaching classes.

Drawing from his expertise teaching distance runners, Beisel first steered to Rodencal that she might have low iron ranges. Once the difficulty was pinpointed, Rodencal started taking iron dietary supplements whereas additionally including iron-rich meals to her weight loss plan. In a sport the place hundredths of a second matter, Rodencal was decided to lift her recreation any means she might. As Rodencal stated, “With my iron levels more normal, I was able to do more reps more competitively in practice, maintaining the times Coach Samuels wanted.”

Of course, it wasn’t all about iron ranges. But with this consciousness added to her already elite work ethic, Rodencal took off whereas making a press release on the nationwide scene. At the nationwide championships, from sophomore to junior 12 months, she improved her 60 hurdles time from 8.59 to eight.44 and her 100 hurdles time from 14.43 to 13.54. Additionally, she met the problem of taking over the 400 hurdles, an occasion that arguably grew to become her greatest – and one she was reluctant to strive. All the whereas, Rodencal went up in opposition to among the best hurdlers in NAIA historical past.

Four All-America awards as a junior felt candy. It additionally felt well-earned. Adrianna positioned because the NAIA nationwide runner up within the 400 hurdles in May 2025. She almost gained the title. When January 2026 arrived, Adrianna wore all 4 of her All-America medals whereas posing for pictures throughout the crew’s media day photoshoot. Entering her senior 12 months, Adrianna stated she wished to ensure she loved it and soaked up moments like these along with her teammates.

At the identical time, she had some BIG goals in thoughts. Said Rodencal simply earlier than the beginning of the ’26 indoor season, “Being able to accomplish that as a junior after missing the mark just barely the first two years, I’m very grateful for that. I hit the mark that I had been going for, so I had to sit back this summer and let myself take it in and fully absorb it. I haven’t changed my goals – not big changes. I want to focus this year on having fun and enjoying time with my teammates. The next big step would be national champion. Coach Samuels and I have talked about that. It’s a big ask, but we both came into this year wanting that. I know we can push to do that, so that’s the next big step this year.”

The spring of Adrianna Rodencal

‘The spring of Adrianna Rodencal’ was made doable by the relentless drive and unwavering spirit inside Adrianna, born and bred in Lincoln. For the Warriors of Lincoln Lutheran, Rodencal competed for state championship profitable groups in each observe and subject and volleyball. She first grew to become a hurdler within the seventh grade on the urging of Lincoln Lutheran assistant coach Harrison Martin (with extra help coming from Coach Joel Janecek). At first, Adrianna balked.

As she remembers, “I didn’t want to do that. I thought, that’s extra work. Let’s just keep running. He was pretty insistent on it … It was super fun so I kind of committed to it for high school. It ended up being really good and I had a really good hurdles coach.”

Rodencal discovered one other fruitful athlete-coach relationship at Concordia along with her occasion coach, Mark Samuels, a veteran Bulldog who has impressed many athletes to achieve their full potential over almost twenty years as an assistant. Samuels has been there for the highs and lows of Rodencal’s profession.

“She’s very special and unique,” Samuels stated. “She loves track and field. She’s constantly learning and improving what she’s doing by watching others. All those little things help. When you get to a certain level, you have to get a lot more detail-oriented to keep improving. The way she can balance the academic load with her focus day-to-day on what she wants to accomplish is pretty special. Not everybody has that.”

In the spring of 2026, there weren’t too many lows, no less than not from a observe perspective. There have been no drop-offs or off days. During the ’26 indoor season, Rodencal gained EVERY single 60-meter hurdles race she competed in – prelims, finals, every part – at eight meets. She proved herself able to competing on any degree, as evidenced by her profitable the 60 hurdles on the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. So dominant within the occasion, Rodencal ran 9 separate 60-hurdle occasions sooner than every other NAIA girls’s athlete ran all through the 2026 season.

At the 2026 NAIA Indoor Championships, Rodencal left little doubt. She broke her personal faculty file by operating 8.25 within the finals of the 60 hurdles (second place ran 8.44). Understandably, the feelings poured out. There have been tears and emotional embraces shared with the likes of Samuels, coaches, teammates and her dad and mom. She might now be known as “national champion Adrianna Rodencal.” As she stated days after the meet, “To be able to say national champion now is a dream made reality.”

Samuels understood the kind of strain Rodencal felt as a nationwide favourite heading into the meet in March. Said Samuels, “The mindset wasn’t just that my goal is to win. It was that I should win. I’m expected to win. There was that extra pressure on her shoulders. It takes a lot of discipline to manage all that. She knew she was in an event where it doesn’t take much to have something go wrong. It was a special moment to put all those years and preparation behind it with that being the No. 1 goal. To actually have it happen was pretty special.”

The frustration she felt from these nationwide meets as a sophomore washed away. She was a runaway freight practice that would not be stopped. As an illustration of her consistency, Adrianna was named the NAIA National Track Athlete of the Week on Feb. 9 and May 4 by the USTFCCCA and on April 1, April 22 and May 6 by the NAIA National Office. According to the USTFCCCA lists, Rodencal is the proprietor of NAIA all-time rankings of third within the 100 hurdles, fourth within the 60 hurdles and nineteenth within the 400 hurdles.

To prime off her profession, Rodencal seized her fifth profession GPAC Athlete of the Year award after re-breaking her personal convention meet information within the 100 and 400 hurdles occasions. At a brand new location for the NAIA Outdoor Championships, Asheville, N.C., Rodencal cruised to a nationwide title within the 100 hurdles (13.57) and positioned runner up within the 400 hurdles in a private better of 57.98 (in a photograph end). Her last All-America award – No. 8 in her profession – got here as a part of the crew’s 4×4 relay (one other occasion that options her title listed atop the college file books).

A pair weeks later, Rodencal mirrored, “I wouldn’t want the final day of my track career to go any other way. Being able to be surrounded by my coaches, teammates, and my family who have always been there for me was something I will always be grateful for. Of course, no track meet is complete without a little anxiety. New facilities, weather and just the general pressure were present and very real but having such a great support team helped me remain firm. When I crossed that finish line in the first race of the day, the 100 hurdles, I was at a loss for words. Coach and I had gone into this year with that goal: to be national champion in the hurdle races. To actually say that we did it in both the 60 hurdles and the 100 hurdles was something amazing.”

Closing the chapter

The story of Adrianna Rodencal is about greater than elite athletic achievement. The 5-foot-6 Nebraskan does extra than simply run quick round a observe whereas clearing hurdles. Faith performs a serious function in her on a regular basis life. On meet days, she reserves loads of time for devotion and prayer. She’s a “secluded person when it comes to track meets” but additionally an lively participant within the celebration of the successes of her teammates.

Beyond that, “Rodey” (as some name her) loves Mexican restaurant (corresponding to Las Margaritas in Lincoln) or a Mumford and Sons live performance. She’s a supportive huge sister to her brother Preston, additionally a standout athlete, and a fan of world file holding 400-meter hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. At least in her thoughts, Adrianna doesn’t possess a selected hidden expertise. She likes to learn and sing and take heed to music that will get her in the suitable headspace.

When she’s enthusiastic about one thing, she’ll go after it with every part she’s received. Discipline and humility are pillars of her success. Her on a regular basis habits are what make her who she is: prayer, research, lifting, coaching, sleep, correct diet, camaraderie and caring for others. No matter the heights she attains, she retains pushing. It’s what made her a nationwide champion x2.

Prior to the beginning of her senior season, Rodencal maturely acknowledged, “It’s very easy for me to look at the results last year and go, ‘that’s exactly what I wanted,’ and then to almost expect it to happen again this year. I have to get in that mind space that every day I wake up, it’s not given. I’ve got a little sign on my mirror. You have to dedicate yourself every day. It’s not given to you. You have to prove your spot on the team and your spot from a nationals standpoint. I think it’s worked for me. You have to stay as humble as you can while also having confidence knowing you did that and you can do it again. I still have to put the work in to achieve better this year.”

Indeed, Adrianna educated like somebody who noticed the slate cleaned each time she wakened within the morning. She outfitted herself for elite efficiency in all points of life. Those “terrible Tuesdays” of coaching (as Adrianna and her teammates dubbed them for his or her grueling nature) didn’t go for nothing. She’s precisely the kind of student-athlete Coach Beisel and the observe program wish to construct round. But Adrianna Rodencals don’t develop on bushes. She’s a generational Bulldog.

Says Beisel, “Adrianna is and has been a true blessing to the program. Obviously, her athletic accomplishments have been significant, but who she is as a teammate and leader have been just as important. We are grateful that God led her to Concordia and are so proud of all she has accomplished. A stellar student, a legendary athlete and a phenomenal teammate: she is truly exceptional.”

Rodencal made her mark as a collegiate student-athlete and now feels ready to impression the world in significant methods. Rodencal is newly engaged to be married with a shiny future forward. She’ll all the time be a Bulldog.

“I’m beyond grateful for the coaches, teachers and for my teammates,” Rodencal stated. “Being a student-athlete, you can’t do it on your own. You really need the friends around you. When you do fall back and you do fall behind, they keep boosting you up. I was so grateful I was able to have that and so grateful for the community I was able to build. I know when I come back for any reason, I will be welcomed with a warm hug.”

This summer time, Adrianna began a job as a Laboratory Technician within the Virus Operations of Zoetis in Lincoln. She continues to be operating and staying lively as she now begins to plan a marriage and start a brand new chapter of her life.

She provides in a closing reflection, “I am truly grateful for everyone who has been a part of my athletic career. For my coaches in middle school, high school and college who believed in me and my sometimes crazy ideas. For my teammates at all levels who have supported me and made me feel a part of a family. For my family who traveled to most all of my meets, no matter the distance, and who have seen me at the highs and the lows. Finally for the community of Concordia as a whole, those who kept up with each meet and cheered me on. I am forever grateful and praise God for the path that He has taken me! While I’ll never get to represent Concordia on the track again, I will forever be Bulldog proud.”

Adrianna Rodencal by the numbers

·        2x NAIA National Champion

·        8x NAIA All-American

·        14x GPAC Champion (8x in hurdles, 3x in 200m, 3x in relays)

·        5x GPAC Athlete of the Year / 5x GPAC Most Outstanding Athlete of the Meet

·        41x GPAC All-Conference

·        3x NAIA Midwest Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year

·        5x NAIA National Athlete of the Week

·        2025 Second Team Academic All-American (College Sports Communicators)

·        3x Academic All-District (College Sports Communicators)

·        Holds indoor faculty file within the 60 hurdles (8.25) and out of doors faculty information within the 100 hurdles (13.04), 400 hurdles (57.98), 4x100m relay (46.80) and 4x400m relay (3:47.14)

·        Owns GPAC meet information in all hurdles occasions

·        Member of 4 GPAC championship profitable groups and 4 that positioned within the NAIA prime 10

·        3x NAIA Scholar-Athlete