Morningside’s men’s and women’s 3200-meter relay teams both earned All-America honors with place winning efforts at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships.

Morningside College runners earned NAIA All-America honors in the men’s and women’s 3200-meter relays with place winning efforts on Friday at the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The Mustangs earned All-America honors in the men’s 3200-meter relay for the fourth time in the last five years.

Morningside finished fourth in the women’s 3200-meter relay, where Payton Boer, a sophomore from Sioux Center, Iowa; Cassie Warner, a sophomore from Council Bluffs, Iowa; Michelle Mumm, a junior from Neola, Iowa; and Tiffany Shepherd, a senior from Corning, Iowa, combined for a time of 9:08.81. The Mustangs moved up three spots after they had qualified for the finals with the seventh fastest time of 9:09.94 in Thursday’s prelims. Morningside finished with a margin of almost four seconds over defending NAIA National Champion Biola University, which finished fifth in 9:12.67.

Aquinas University won the national championship in the event with a time of 8:53.57, followed by the University of British Columbia in 8:54.31 and Wayland Baptist University in 8:56.71. Wayland Baptist, featuring 800-meter indoor All-Americans Tiffany Cano and Elizabeth Williams, was the NAIA regular season national leader and ran the fastest qualifying time of 9:05.03 in the prelims.

The Mustangs finished eighth in the men’s 3200-meter relay with a time of 7:47.16 from the quartet of Kyle Hiser, a senior from Shenandoah, Iowa; Alec DeVries, a junior from Merrill, Iowa; Drew Schiltz, a senior from Hinton, Iowa; and Jacob Green, a junior from Sioux Falls, S.D. The Mustangs had qualified for the final with the sixth fastest time of 7:37.0 in Thursday’s prelims.

Morningside’s same four runners earned NAIA All-America honors earlier this year with a fifth place finish in the 3200-meter relay at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships. 

British Columbia won the national championship in the men’s 3200-meter relay with a time of 7:33.45. Regular season national leader Indiana Tech finished second in 7:34.08 and Siena Heights University, which led all schools with a time of 7:34.04 in the prelims, finished third in 7:34.87. Indiana Tech and Siena Heights also finished second and third in the 3200-meter relay at this year’s NAIA Indoor National Championships.

Morningside competed in Friday evening’s prelims of the women’s 1600-meter relay, where the Mustangs’ quartet of Eleka Joseph, a junior from Saint John’s, Antigua; Mumm, Payton Boer, a sophomore from Sioux Center, Iowa; and Rose Pelelo-Ray, a sophomore from Merrill, Iowa, finished 14th with a time of 3:54.91.

Aside from her participation in Friday’s relay events, Mumm also competed in the women’s 800-meter prelims, where she finished 18th with a time of 2:16.76.

Reece Jackson, a sophomore from Marcus, Iowa, competed in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles prelims and finished 14th with a time of 14.80 seconds.

Kati Kneifl, a sophomore from Sheldon, Iowa, finished 13th in Thursday’s women’s javelin competition. Kneifl had a distance of 130-1/2 to finish less than four inches out of 11th place behind Shana Cosby (130-4) of the University of Great Falls and Carroll College’s Crystal Schmidt (130-2).

Sean Skillern, a senior from Shenandoah, Iowa, finished 16th in Saturday’s men’s 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:07.10.

The Mustangs competed in the men’s 400-meter relay, but did not advance past Thursday’s prelims. Morningside’s sprint quartet of Perman Wilson, a junior from Lakeland, Fla.; Will Griffin, a junior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Klayton Nordeen, a freshman from Alliance, Neb.; and Logan Roberts, a freshman from Shenandoah, Iowa, finished 16th in the prelims with a time of 41.88 seconds.

Results