By Jaden Lux–The Morningside cross country teams weren’t initially supposed to compete at the Herb Blakely Invitational in Madison, S.D., but they’re glad they did.
The men’s team finished first by a wide margin, and the women finished second
The Mustangs were scheduled to run in Decorah, Iowa, Sept. 10, against some of the toughest and most diverse competition in the Midwest. During the week, however, the meet was canceled due to impending thunderstorms and flood warnings in the area. Among the competition was Augustana, whose men’s team is ranked ninth in the NCAA III Midwestern region.
Under the direction of head coach David Nash, a Morningside Alumni and decorated track athlete, the team was directed to the meet in Madison. Local collegiate teams such as Wayne State, Briar Cliff, Northwestern College, and Hastings College were all present. Hasting’s women’s team is ranked nationally ahead of the Mustangs, a statistic that wasn’t overlooked by Nash.
“Our reputation of nationally ranked teams and the integrity of what we brought has been pretty good,” Nash told the men’s team as part of a pre-meet speech. “I want [our team] to be a hurricane, we have to keep this reputation going.”
The Mustang men finished 52 points ahead of runner-up Hastings in a seven-team field. The top five Mustangs all finished among the top 11 runners.
The women were led by Tiffany Shepherd who finished second overall. Northern State won the women’s title.
Quinn Groff, a senior runner for the team, had a wealth of motivation for this meet after being able to witness his older sibling compete on this same course years before. “This meet has different competition that we don’t normally face. We are getting another opportunity to prove ourselves as a team,” says Groff adding, “Northern State is tough competition for the women, so it’s about to go down.”
Groff finsihed 25th, with a time of 28.04:00 over the 8K course.
Coach Nash was not only enthusiastic about the change of location for the meet, but for how his runners have been performing lately. During the pre-meet talk he gave to the men’s team, he voiced his excitement for individual runners. “Alec [DeVries] has been one of the fastest cross country runners in Morningside history. Sean [Skillern] has transformed himself. We almost lost [Jason Kenny] to Northwestern but there’s a reason he is here,” Nash articulates with a grin spread across his face. The team joined in with laughter as they acknowledged Kenny’s crucial part on the team. “He is figuring things out,” Nash exclaims.
Morningside’s Cross Country teams entered the meet after a 6th place (men’s) and 5th place (women’s) finish Sept. 2 in Sioux Falls at the Augustana Twilight meet. Out of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, Northwestern men finished 5th and Dordt women finished 4th at this same meet.
Morningside’s upcoming meets are the Roy Griak Invitational, Sept. 24 in Falcon Heights, Minn, and the Briar Cliff Open Oct. 8.
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