Morningside had three top five finishes at the 2017 Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee.

Morningside College had three relay teams make top five finishes and two others finish in the top 10 at the 2017 Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee, held April 27-29 in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Mustangs’ top finish came in the men’s 3200-meter relay, where Jacob Green, a junior from Sioux Falls, S.D.; Alec DeVries, a junior from Merrill, Iowa; Kyle Hiser, a senior from Shenandoah, Iowa; and Drew Schiltz, a senior from Hinton, Iowa, ran a time of 7:44.16 to finish third behind Cardinal Stritch University (7:41.56) and NCAA Division II Augustana College (7:41.91). Morningside ran almost two seconds faster than GPAC rival Northwestern College, which finished fourth in 7:46.09.

Morningside finished fourth in the women’s distance medley relay, where the quartet of Michelle Mumm, a junior from Neola, Iowa; Eleka Joseph, a junior from Saint John’s, Antigua; Cassie Warner, a sophomore from Council Bluffs, Iowa; and Payton Boer, a sophomore from Sioux Center, Iowa, combined for a time of 12:08.17 for the same time as NCAA Division II Fort Hays State University, which finished third. The Mustangs were in first place after Mumm ran a time of 3:37 over the opening 1200-meter leg.

NCAA II Minnesota State University-Morehead won the event with a time of 11:56.68 and Wartburg College was the runner-up in 12:05.79.

Morningside had a school record-breaking performance in the women’s sprint medley relay, breaking a school standard that had stood since 1992. The Mustangs’ quartet of Joseph, Aurora Arevalo, a sophomore from Lenox, Iowa; Boer and Mumm finished fifth, just .28 seconds out of fourth place behind NCAA II Lincoln University, with a time of 4:05.51 to shatter the previous Morningside standard of 4:09.27 that was set by Bridgette Williams, Theresa Lux, Julie Heemskerk and Gina DeWitt.

The Mustangs finished sixth in the women’s college division 3200-meter relay, where Payton Boer, a sophomore from Sioux Center, Iowa; Rose Pelelo-Ray, a sophomore from Merrill, Iowa; Tiffany Shepherd, a senior from Corning, Iowa; and Cassie Warner, a sophomore from Council Bluffs, Iowa, combined for a time of 9:26.72 for a comfortable margin over seventh place Wartburg College (9:28.13).  

Green ran the anchor leg for a Morningside men’s sprint medley relay team that finished seventh with a time of 3:31.56. The first three legs were run by Perman Wilson, a junior from Lakeland, Fla.; Logan Roberts, a freshman from Shenandoah, Iowa; and James Farnan, a junior from Bellevue, Neb.

Kati Kneifl, a sophomore from Sheldon, Iowa, finished 13th in a women’s javelin field dominated by competitors from NCAA Division I and II schools. Kneifl’s longest throw of 126-4 came on her final attempt and left her just one inch out of 12th place behind Nicole Hopkins of NCAA Division I Northwest Missouri State University.

Results