2020-2021 NAIA Championships
THREE END AMONG INDIVIDUAL TOP 125 Putting the wraps on a strong 2020 campaign, the trio seniors Emalee Fundermann and Connor Ritz and junior Jo McKibben headlined Morningside College›s results at the 2020 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Championships Friday, April 9. Fundermann, traversing the Seminole Valley racecourse on a cool and chilly late east-central Iowa morning, crossed the finish line in a national meet career personal best 75thplace mark (19:15.04). McKibben, a fellow upperclasswoman, was next in line for head coach Dave Nash’s women’s squad, registering a 121st place effort (19:45.65), suitable for a career PR national placing. The Maroon managed to forge a 637-point team total competing against the country’s top programs to wind up 27th on the final standings behind those two races. Morningside’s men were represented by Ritz, who made his third national meet appearance. He made the most of it, earning a career personal best championships finish (119th – 26:26.16) over the 8K course layout.
PROGRAM ADDS TO NOTABLE ALL-AMERICAN STREAK DURING INDOOR NATIONALS Eight qualifiers and five National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ AllAmerican awards. A percentage that Morningside College head coach Dave Nash will take every time. “We would have loved to gotten one of the men’s events into the finals, but we had several personal bests and the women come away with All-American honors --- you can’t ask for much more,” the Mustangs’ head coach said after his teams concluded the 2021 indoor season with remarkable results on the national championship meet level which included increasing the school’s streak of seasons with at least one indoor All-American award to 12 at Mount Marty University’s Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Bank Fieldhouse Friday, March 5. “It’s another case of our athletes just doing amazing things,” Nash continued. “Zach ran a personal season-best in the 800-meter preliminaries; the women’s 4x800 took six seconds off their previous fastest time this year in the finals, and Emalee had a personal career-best in the 1000. Everyone who competed left everything they had here.” Topping the Mustangs’ resume was the runner-up finish of the quartet of seniors Emalee Fundermann and Payton Boer and juniors Kristine Honomichl and Jo McKibben pushed themselves to a 9:23.58, trailing only Taylor University (9:18.25) for the event championship. Not long after, Fundermann stepped back on the
track and raced to a third-place finish in the 1000, hitting the line in 2:56.67. “The 4x800 just went out and raced the race,” Nash said. “Being a national runner-up is wonderful --- I don’t know how much more they could have done. Emalee just kept doing what she’s been doing all season --- going out and competing,” he added. “It was her fourth race in two days.” “I like having less time between events,” Fundermann mused about her quick finals turnaround. “There was too much waiting around in the prelims, but that’s how it goes. This week was fabulous --- getting to see everyone run as they did. Just looking back at the entire indoor season, it was great just to compete,” she added. “We didn’t know what might happen. We showed what we could do when we push each other in practice.” Ambrose’s 1:55.78 was less than 15-hundredths off a finals berth. He and the 4x800 wound up at 7:59.97 in the prelims. “I’m proud of our guys and the way they competed,” Nash said. “It was a good way to wind up the indoor season by having them get a chance to compete at nationals. Zach was just a whisker off the finals after running a strong anchor in the relay.”
MUSTANGS CORRAL TWO TITLES AT GPAC OUTDOORS Six top-five marks lifted Morningside College into the first five of the 2021 Great Plains Athletic Conference Championships Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1. The upperclasswoman tandem of senior Emalee Fundermann and junior Jo McKibben headlined the efforts. Fundermann hit the tape in the 1500 in 4:49.93 to win the event, good for her first league outdoor event victory and to put her among the National Association of Intercollegiate Association’s first 50 on the Track and Field Results Reporting System. McKibben made it a sweep of the middle distance races, winning the 800 in 2:20.47, which was her first GPAC outdoor first-place finish, too. Both of their wins were part of a pair of best three outings. Fundermann wound up third in the 800 (2:22 flat). Junior Kristine Honomichl placed in a similar slot in the 1500 (4:49.05). Junior sprinter Betsy Ridout added her name to the women’s team’s successes. She was a runner-up in the 200 (24.89 seconds) and 400 (59.6). Her 200 clocking was a provisional qualifying mark for the 2021 NAIA Championships, ranking 31st on the national list. Rounding out the first six accolades was Honomichl in the 5000 (19:52.88) and the 4x400 meter relay quartet of Ridout, McKibben, sophomore Callie Yeakel, and freshman Emily Chicoine raced to a 4:03.48 for a third-place ending. With those tallies in place, the Mustangs compiled 77 points to nail down fifth place on the team leaderboard. Head coach Dave Nash’s crew was only eight points behind Doane University for a first four placing. Its distance roster led Morningside College’s men at Concordia University’s Bulldog Stadium. The 4x800 meter relay group of junior Camden Beller, senior Zach Ambrose, senior Dylan Lindstrom and junior Tyler Carney hit the line in 7:45.47. The time left them third and also was the eighth-quickest on the current NAIA performance list through TFRRS. Ambrose added a fourth-place finish in the 800 (1:57.43), and senior Zac Hazen turned in a sixth-place mark in the triple jump, flying to a leap of 45 feet, three and a half inches.
2020-21 MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY All-Great Plains Athletic Conference Connor Ritz NAIA Championships Qualifier Connor Ritz
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD Great Plains Athletic Conference Champion Zach Ambrose – 800 meters All-Great Plains Athletic Conference Zach Ambrose Camden Beller Austin Freiberg Zac Hazen Dylan Lindstrom Connor Ritz NAIA National Qualifiers Zach Ambrose Camden Beller Tyler Carney Tyler Janssen Dylan Lindstrom
MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD All-Great Plains Athletic Conference Connor Ritz Zach Ambrose Camden Beller Tyler Carney Dylan Lindstrom Zac Hazen Garrett Hanson
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY All-Great Plains Athletic Conference Emalee Fundermann Kristine Honomichl NAIA National Qualifiers Emalee Fundermann Payton Boer Tenna Beel Macie Moore Rachel Barkema Jo McKibben Kristine Honomichl
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD Great Plains Athletic Conference Champions Emalee Fundermann – 800/1500 All-Great Plains Athletic Conference Payton Boer Lindsey Flammang Emalee Fundermann Kristine Honomichl Jo McKibben Betsy Ridout
NAIA National Qualifiers Emalee Fundermann Jo McKibben Kristine Honomichl Payton Boer Rachel Barkema
WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD Great Plains Athletic Conference Champions Emalee Fundermann Jo McKibben All-Great Plains Athletic Conference Emalee Fundermann Jo McKibben Payton Boer Rachel Barkema Kristine Honomichl Avery Henderson Callie Yeakel Emily Chicoine Betsy Ridout
NAIA All-Americans Emalee Fundermann Jo McKibben Payton Boer Kristine Honomichl
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