Morningside’s Jay Welp and David Nash claimed the top honors when the 2014 All-GPAC Men’s Cross Country Team was announced.

Jay Welp was named the 2014 Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year to headline the 2014 All-GPAC Men’s Cross Country Team.

In addition to Welp, the Mustangs also placed Mark Abrams and Alec DeVries on the All-GPAC Men’s Cross Country Team and Morningside’s David Nash was named the 2014 Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.

Nash was named the GPAC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row after he guided the Mustangs to their second consecutive conference championship.

Morningside won this year’s GPAC title by a 20-point margin (44-64) over runner-up Northwestern College. The Mustangs, ranked 12th nationally in the NAIA, will compete in the 2014 NAIA Men’s Cross Country National Championship on Nov. 22 in Lawrence, Kan.

Welp, a senior from Conrad, Iowa, was the individual champion at this year’s GPAC Cross Country Championship with a time of 25:10.56 over the 8k course to top a field of 99 runners. Welp became the second straight Morningside runner to win the GPAC’s individual crown, joining graduated senior Garret Ehlers, who was last year’s GPAC Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Welp was also named to the 2012 and 2013 All-GPAC Men’s Cross Country Teams.

Abrams, a junior from Glenwood, Iowa, was also named to the All-GPAC team for the third year in a row, while DeVries, a sophomore from Merrill, Iowa, was a repeat selection from last year’s team.

Abrams was the runner-up behind Welp at this year’s GPAC Championship with a time of 25:14.57, while DeVries finished sixth with a time of 25:24.75.

Click here for the 2014 All-GPAC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Teams.