Garret Ehlers qualified for the finals in the men’s 5000-meters during Thursday’s preliminaries at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Geneva, Ohio.

Garret Ehlers, a senior from Ida Grove, Iowa, qualified for the finals in the men’s 5000-meters during Thursday’s preliminaries at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Geneva, Ohio.

Ehlers finished fourth in his preliminary heat with a time of 14:51.34 for the seventh fastest qualifying time among the finalists. He finished just shy of the Morningside record of 14:51.23 set by Bret Taber in 1993.

The 5000-meter final will be held Saturday afternoon.

Morningside missed qualifying for the finals by one spot in both the men’s and women’s 3200-meter relays.

The Mustangs, two-time defending national champions in the men’s 3200-meter relay, finished fourth in their heat and ninth overall in the prelims with a time of 7:44.05 from the quartet of Drew Schiltz, a freshman from Hinton, Iowa; Alec DeVries, a freshman from Merrill, Iowa; Brad Wright, a junior from Mullen, Neb.; and Jay Welp, a junior from Marcus, Iowa.

Morningside’s women’s 3200-meter relay team of Tori Figge, a freshman from Rock Rapids, Iowa; Shelby Hall, a sophomore from Woodbine, Iowa; Tori Pothast, a freshman from Melbourne, Iowa; and Jennifer Petsche, a sophomore from Onawa, Iowa, finished third in their heat and ninth overall in the prelims with a time of 9:21.00.