Morningside Connect

The Morningside College athletic teams have been busy with the start of the spring season well under way and the ending of winter seasons at NAIA Nationals.

The dance team finished fourth at the NAIA Competitive Cheer & Dance National Invitational. The team finished with a score of 105.81 points. The team also had three members receive the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete award – senior Kara Bentz, junior Jackie Bossman, and junior Brianna Harding. To be eligible for the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors, a person must be of at least junior academic status and have a minimum GPA of 3.50.

The women’s basketball team made it to the quarterfinals of the NAIA II Women’s Basketball National Tournament. Three members of the team – junior Lexi Ackerman, senior Allison Bachman, and senior Jessica Tietz – were named 2016 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Tietz was also named to the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championship All-Tournament Second Team and to the first team of the NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball All-American team.

The men’s basketball team had three members named Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes. They were senior Joseph Christen, junior Matthew Klemme, and junior Blake Van Ginkel.

The wrestling team’s Steven Garcia finished fourth at the NAIA Wrestling National Championships. Four other wrestlers qualified for nationals – senior Jared McCoy, freshman Keegan Hessler, freshman Kyle Fowler, and freshman Dakota Drenth.

The men’s bowling team finished 24^th at the Intercollegiate Team Championships Sectional Qualifier tournament. In the singles competition, they had four bowlers compete – junior Tyler Lane, sophomore Dylan Malcom, sophomore Alex Eukovich, and freshman Tanner Hansel. Sophomore Katie Pearson and freshman Haley Mathes competed in the women’s singles competition.