Folkestad And Goss Are Headed To La Crosse

MOORHEAD, Minn. (5/18/26)---A national meet veteran and a national meet newcomer will be making appearances in La Crosse at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet it was released by the NCAA over the weekend.

Senior Cooper Folkestad (Wadena, Minn./Wadena-Deer Creek HS) will be making his fourth appearance at the national outdoor meet, and eighth overall at a national meet, while junior Tyler Goss (Devils Lake, N.D.) will be headed to nationals for the very first time in his career.

Concordia has now had at least one outdoor national-meet qualifier in nine consecutive seasons that the event has been held and has had 11 qualifiers in the past five campaigns.

| NCAA Outdoor Meet Schedule of Events (pdf) | NCAA Outdoor Meet Live Video | NCAA Outdoor Meet Live Results | 

Folkestad qualified for the national meet in both the shot put and discus but has chosen to compete in only the shot put.

He qualified for the shot put at the NDSU Spring Classic when he came up with a monster distance of 63-02.25. That mark is currently tops in all of Division III and also broke the school record.

Folkestad has earned five All-American honors in the shot put. He finished third in the NCAA Indoor Meet this past March and was sixth at last year's national outdoor meet. The third-place finish at the indoor meet is his highest at a national meet.

The shot put competition at the NCAA Meet is scheduled for Friday, May 22 at 1 p.m.

Goss saved his best for last in punching his ticket to the national meet. He qualified in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the final meet of the "regular season" at the UW-La Crosse Final Qualifier on Thursday.

Goss entered the meet with a season-best time of 9:13.01 which was outside the Top 22 that was needed to place in the Top 22 of Division III and qualify for nationals. He then dropped a full 10 seconds off that mark at La Crosse and posted a national-qualifying time of 9:02.17.

Goss's qualifying time is currently No.14 in the nation. He will run in the prelims of the steeplechase at nationals on Thursday, May 21 at 6:35 p.m.  

Past Cobber NCAA National Outdoor Meet Participants
2025 - Cooper Folkestad - shot put, discus
2025 - Brady Goss - 3000-meter steeplechase
2025 - Tommy Schreiner - long jump 
2024 - Cooper Folkestad - shot put, discus
2024 - Wade Rhonemus - decathlon
2023 - Wade Rhonemus - decathlon
2023 - Cal Wright - 200 meters, 400 meters
2022 - Cooper Folkestad - Shot Put
2022 - Cal Wright - 400 Meters
2021 – Jesse Middendorf – 800 meters
2019 – Matt Bye – decathlon
2018 – Matt Bye – decathlon
2017 – Jackson Schepp – decathlon
2015 – Brandon Zylstra – high jump
2011 – Caleb Giesen – decathlon
2009 – Paul Westmark – decathlon
2005 – Nick Myran – 1500 meters
2004 – Nick Myran – 1500 meters
2002 – Joe Schmidgall - decathlon     
2000 – Joe Schmidgall – high jump
2000 – Adam Strainer – decathlon
2000 – Micah Benson – long jump
2000 – Chris Goebel – 1500 meters
1998 – Micah Benson – long jump
1997 – Peter Benson – 400-meter hurdles
1996 – Aaron Banks – shot put, discus, hammer throw
1995 – Aaron Banks – discus, shot put, hammer throw
1994 – Aaron Banks – discus, shot put
1994 – James Lenhoff – javelin
1993 - Emry McAlear - Decathlon
1993 - Jason Trichler - 3000-meter steeplechase
1992 – Jon Ault – hammer throw & shot put
1991 – Jon Ault – hammer throw & shot put
1990 – Mark Olson – shot put
1990 - Don Worcester - 110-meter hurdles
1989 – Don Worcester – 110-meter hurdles
1988 – Greg Defor – 800 meters
1988 – Jay Jorgenson – 400-meter hurdles
1985 – Kurtis Waters – pole vault
1985 – Daniel Flauer – hurdles
1985 – Henrik Pederson – steeplechase
1984 – Howard Berglund – javelin
1984 – David Swanberg – 400 meters
1984 – Henrik Pederson – steeplechase
1983 – Howard Berglund – javelin
1983 – David Dahl – pole vault
1982 – Kevin Johnson – steeplechase
1980 – John Mutschelknaus – 5,000 meters
1980 - Craig Dresser, Pete Warnes, Ron Noyce, Jay Myers - 4x400-meter relay  
1979 – Steve Fox – 110-meter hurdles
1979 – Steve Fox – 400-meter hurdles
1979 – Mike Ranum – 400-meter hurdles
1979 – Ron Kangas – javelin
1979 – Bob Dale – high jump
1979 – John Mutschelknaus – 5,000 meters
1979 – John Mutschelknaus – 10,000 meters
1978 – Steve Fox – 400-meter hurdles