Morningside won two events during day one of the GPAC Track & Field Championships.

Mark Abrams, a sophomore from Glenwood, Iowa, was a double winner at the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships held Friday and Saturday in Crete, Neb.

Abrams two victories helped lead the Mustangs to a third place finish in the team standings with 95 points. Morningside finished sixth in the women’s standings with 54.5 points.

Abrams won the 10,000-meters on Friday with a school-record time of 32:10.19 and came back on Saturday to win the 5000-meters with a time of 15:29.94. Abram’s  time in the 10,000-meters broke the former Morningside standard of 32:19.30 he set earlier this season.

Garret Ehlers, a senior from Ida Grove, Iowa, finished second behind Abrams in both the 5000 and 10,000-meters with times of 15:29.94 and 32:58.41, respectively. Ehlers added a third runner-up finish with a time of 9:12.88 in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Morningside’s men also triumphed in the 3200-meter relay, where the quartet of Jacob Willey, a sophomore from Onawa, Iowa; Alec DeVries, a freshman from Merrill, Iowa; Drew Schiltz, a freshman from Hinton, Iowa; and Jay Welp, a junior from Marcus, Iowa, set a GPAC record with a time of 7:39.31 to shatter the former GPAC standard of 7:43.74.

Morningside added a fourth victory in the women’s long jump, where Neeia Cooperwood, a junior from Omaha, Neb., had a winning distance of 18-9.

Cooperwood, this year’s GPAC Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year, added three high finishes in the sprints with second place times of 12.27 seconds in the 100-meters and 24.88 in the 200-meters and a third place time of 56.64 in the 400-meters.

Aside from anchoring the Mustangs to their victory in the men’s 3200-meter relay, Welp also had a pair of high individual finishes with a fourth place time of 1:54.98 in the 800-meters and a fourth place time of 3:59.54 in the 1500-meters.

The Mustangs had third place finishes from Andrew Christen, a junior from Anselmo, Neb., with a height of 6-8 1/4 in the men’s high jump, and Ben VanDyke, a sophomore from Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, with a time of 54.83 in the 400-meter hurdles.

Nicole Ausborn, a junior from Nora Springs, Iowa, placed fourth in the women’s 10,000-meters with a time of 41:25.50 to compliment a sixth place time of 12:00.04 in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Dan Larscheid, a junior from Bondurant, Iowa, placed fourth in the men’s 10,000-meters with a time of 33:07.07.

Sean Skillern, a freshman from Shenandoah, Iowa, finished fifth in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:49.68.

Morningside had sixth place finishes from Tori Figge, a freshman from Rock Rapids, Iowa, with a time of 2:18.38 in the women’s 800-meters; and Jessie Hamman, a sophomore from Manson, Iowa, with a time of 1:05.28 in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

The Mustangs had seventh place finishes from Schiltz with a time of 1:55.49 in the men’s 800-meters; Taylor Kube, a senior from Crofton, Neb., with a time of 33:45.73 in the men’s 10,000-meters; and Tyler Wattier, a junior from Osmond, Neb., with a distance of 166-4 in the men’s javelin.

The Mustangs had eighth place finishes from Kyle Hiser, a freshman from Shenandoah, Iowa, with a time of 57.26 in the men’s 400-meter hurdles; Austin Mumm, a sophomore from Harlan, Iowa, with 5122 points in the men’s decathlon; and Caitlin Casey, a senior from Emerson, Neb., with a height of 5-3 1/4 in the women’s high jump.

Morningside’s top finish in a women’s relay event was a fifth place time of 9:42.14 from its 3200-meter team of Shelby Hall, a sophomore from Woodbine, Iowa; Tori Pothast, a freshman from Melbourne, Iowa; Tiffany Shepherd, a freshman from Corning, Iowa; and Figge.

The Mustang women finished seventh in the 400-meter relay with a time of 50.48 from Hamman, Taylor Hudson, a freshman from Lenox, Iowa; Katie Atkins, a freshman from Pierce, Neb.; and Allison Schreiner, a sophomore from Remsen, Iowa; and the 1600-meter relay with a time of 4:04.17 from Schreiner, Hall, Figge, and Hamman.

Morningside finished seventh in the men’s 400-meter relay with a time of 43.35 from Kyle Kinney, a junior from Sioux City; Michael Whitehead, a freshman from Le Mars, Iowa; Eric Peters, a junior from Sioux City; and Preston Nibaur, a senior from Austin, Minn.

Nick Misukanis, a sophomore from Mendota Heights, Minn.; Willey, VanDyke, and Welp combined for an eighth place time of 3:22.21 in the men’s 1600-meter relay.

Results