Morningside’s nationally ranked men’s cross country team was a runaway winner at the Dean White Invitational

Jacob Weber

Mark Abrams

Morningside College’s nationally ranked men’s cross country team crushed the competition en route to the team championship at Saturday’s Doane College Dean White Invitational in Crete, Neb.

The Mustangs, ranked eighth nationally in the NAIA, had five of the top seven runners in the field to reign over a six-team field with a score of 21 points. Doane was a distant second with 70 points.

Morningside’s women’s team also made a strong showing. The Mustangs finished with 45 points to tie a Doane team that is ranked 22nd in the nation, but the Tigers won the tiebreaker on the placings of the teams’ sixth runners who didn’t figure in the team scoring.

Morningside’s Mark Abrams, a senior from Glenwood, Iowa, was the men’s individual champion with a time of 26:12.13 over the 8k course. Abrams finished 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Eric Weers of Doane.

Mustang runners Jacob Weber, a sophomore from Dunlap, Iowa, and Alex Janssen, a sophomore from Crofton, Neb., finished third and fourth with times of 26:40.49 and 26:59.57, respectively. The Mustangs completed their team score with a sixth place time of 27:05.68 by Sean Skillern, a junior from Shenandoah, Iowa, and a seventh place time of 27:26.12 by Jacob Scott, a sophomore from Rodney, Iowa.

Michelle Mumm

Morgan Applegarth

Morningside had three of the top six individual finishers in the women’s race. Michelle Mumm, a sophomore from Neola, Iowa, led the way with the fourth place time of 19:24.58 over the 5k course. Morgan Applegarth, a freshman from Lincoln, Neb., finished fifth with a time of 19:36.99 and Tiffany Shepherd, a junior from Corning, Iowa, was sixth with a time of 19:39.97.

Allison Higgins, a sophomore from Jefferson, Iowa, finished 11th with a time of 20:10.61 and Megan Hart, a sophomore from Shenandoah, Iowa, finished 19th with a time of 20:30.24 to complete the Mustangs’ team score.

The Mustangs will compete in the Briar Cliff Invitational on Oct. 10 at Adams Nature Preserve in McCook Lake, S.D.

Men’s Results

Women’s Results