By Jaden Lux–The Morningside Cross Country team is back at it this weekend with a meet close to home at Adam’s Homestead and Nature Preserve in McCook Lake, SD.
On Saturday (Oct. 8) multiple GPAC teams set out to prove who is the best as the season comes to a close. Within the GPAC alone, three men’s teams and three woman’s teams are nationally ranked.
Northwestern’s men are currently ranked 16th in the nation. Morningside fell back to 24th in the nation after a rough meet at The Roy Griak Invitational on September 24. Dordt’s men currently hold 53 points towards being ranked. Morningside has continually looked to upset Northwestern, while the Red Raiders have continued to hold them off.
For the women, Dordt holds the highest ranking at 15th in the nation after falling back from previously being 5th. Morningside holds on to 21st in the nation from last polling session, and Hastings sits in 24th.
Not only are all of these nationally ranked teams going to attend the BCU Invite, but the entire GPAC will be represented on Saturday. This adds pressure to not only look good from a national standpoint, but from within the conference as well.
“The ladies [Morningside], Hastings College, and Dordt College are formidable. We are pretty healthy and I hope things continue to go well. For the guys, Northwestern College and Dordt College are two of the best,” Coach Dave Nash said.
According to Nash, a lot is at stake for this meet. “Both of our national rankings are in jeopardy. If we are not in the mix with the best teams, it may cost us an opportunity for the rest of the year,” Nash stresses. The fate of every nationally ranked team there on Saturday will be looking to have the best day possible.
To help with that, Saturday is looking good for them. According to the National Weather Service, Saturday has a high of 62 degrees, will be partly cloudy, and has a chance for a light breeze. Throughout the week there are numerous chances for rain, which will no doubt make the meet more interesting. Even with this, team captain Tiffany Shepherd thinks this won’t stop the mustangs from having a good day.
“There are some areas on our course that are grassy and may be kind of sloppy depending on how much rain the course has received. For the most part I feel that the course will be pretty clear since quite a bit of it is gravel,” Shepherd explained.
The Mustangs come into this Briar Cliff Invite after a challenging meet at The Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, MN. Top place finisher Alec DeVries lead the men to a 24th place finish with a time of 27.43 (8k). Tiffany Shepherd brought the women in with a team place of 21st. Her time for the 6k was 23.53.
Last year’s BC meet was a success for the Morningside men with a 2nd place finish behind the University of Sioux Falls (USF). At this same meet, Northwestern finished 5th behind both Morningside and Dordt College. The Mustang women placed 6th behind Concordia, Doane, and Dordt. Even with a finish behind three GPAC schools, the women were able to beat USF and Hastings at this meet last year.
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