Tiffany Shepherd was the women’s individual champion at the Mount Marty Invitational cross country meet.

Tiffany Shepherd, a senior from Corning, Iowa, was the individual champion to lead 16th-ranked Morningside to a runner-up finish in the nine-team women’s division at Saturday’s Mount Marty Invitational cross country meet in Yankton, S.D.

Shepherd ran the 5K course in a time of 18:24.40 to top a field of 110 runners. She finished seven seconds in front of runner-up Justine Van Zee of Dordt.

Morningside had five of the top 15 runners in the field, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Mustangs from finishing three points out of first place. Four-time defending GPAC champion Dordt took the team crown with 32 points, with Morningside right behind with 35.

The Mustangs had two other runners finish in the top 10. Michelle Mumm finished third with a time of 18:36.49 and Payton Boer was sixth with a time of 19:17.60. Morgan Applegarth finished just out of the top 10 with the 11th place time of 19:27.96 and Natalie Lambert finished 15th with a time of 19:36.62.

Morningside’s men’s team finished third in an 11-team field. The Mustangs totaled 89 points to finish 34 points out of second place behind Dordt.

Alec DeVries led the Mustangs with a third place time of 25:51.5 over the 8K course. The Mustangs’ other four counters in the team scoring finished together in a pack. Anthony Patton was 20th with a time of 27:00.63, Jaden Lux was 21st with a time of 27:02.26, Alex Janssen was 22nd with a time of 27:03.63, and Sean Skillern was 23rd with a time of 27:14.36.

The Mount Marty Invitational was the Mustangs’ final tune-up prior to the GPAC Cross Country Championships to be held Nov. 5 in Hastings, Neb.

Men’s Results

Women’s Results