Mustang Minutes

By Dave Rebstock

Morningside sports highlights

Larsen is national runner-up in track

Monte Larsen capped a brilliant junior track campaign when he finished second in the 800-meters at the 2011 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. Larsen had a time of 1 minute, 50.28 seconds, which topped his own school record of 1:50.6 from this year’s Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Championships. His time at the GPAC Championships erased the former school record of 1:51.03 that was set by current Mustang head coach Dave Nash 1990. Larsen earned NAIA All-America honors with his runner-up finish in the 800-meters. He also earned All-America honors at this year’s NAIA Indoor National Championships with a second-place finish in the 600-meters and by anchoring the Mustangs to a runner-up finish in the 3200-meter relay. The other members of the Mustangs’ All-America relay team were Brian Gesink, Garret Ehlers and John Harris. The Mustangs also received an All-American performance from Jessica Hudelson at this year’s NAIA Outdoor Nationals when she finished fifth in the 1500-meters with a school-record time of 4:31.78 to shatter the former Morningside standard of 4:35.25 by Gina DeWitt 1995. Hudelson was the GPAC champion in the 1500-meters during the outdoor season and the 800-meters during the indoor season. Morningside’s other GPAC champions were Larsen in the indoor 600-meters and the outdoor 800-meters and Breanna Mathes in the outdoor 800-meters.

Women’s basketball team makes Final Four

The women’s basketball team came within a minute of reaching the NAIA Division II National Championship Game when the Mustangs held an 81-80 lead against eventual champion Northwestern with just 52.9 seconds left in the national tournament semifinals. Morningside eventually lost 86-81 to finish another banner campaign. The Mustangs, NAIA II National Champions in 2004, 2005 and 2009, bowed out with a 29-6 record for their eighth straight 20-win season and their ninth consecutive appearance in the national tournament. The Mustangs’ leader was senior guard Tanaeya Worden, who averaged a team-high 16.1 points, 4.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game en route to first-team All-America honors. Worden and Emily Christen were each named to the all-national tournament team, while Chelsie Trask was named an honorable mention All-American.

Young talent displayed in golf and tennis

The Mustangs’ Cameron Oakley made the All-GPAC Women’s Golf Team as a freshman, while freshman Austin Grundy and sophomore Reid Rosen each made the All-GPAC Men’s Tennis Team. Grundy’s first-year exploits were especially impressive, as he fashioned a 13-5 record at No. 1 singles.

Wrestling team takes GPAC Championship

The wrestling program rose to the top this winter when the Mustangs captured their first-ever GPAC Championship and went on to win the NAIA North Region crown as well. The two titles garnered GPAC and NAIA North Region Coach of the Year honors for Tim Jager, who led the Mustangs to a 10-3-1 dual record. The Mustangs crowned three GPAC champions in Drew Smith, Joe Sievert and Brian Block. Block made the Mustangs’ best showing at the NAIA National Championships with a fifth-place finish in the 174-lb. division to earn All-America honors. Smith and Ben Knight also earned All-America status with sixth-place finishes in the 141- and 165-lb. divisions.

Men’s basketball team finishes strong

The men’s basketball team went on a late-season surge to get fans fired up for next year. The Mustangs won seven of their last 10 games to finish with a record of 15-17, and they graduated only one player from their regular rotation. The top player was junior center Garth Hamilton, who led the team with averages of 12.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game en route to first-team All-GPAC honors, while sophomore point guard Trent Miller was the GPAC leader with averages of 4.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

Softball team returns to nationals

The softball team went 46-11 this spring to set a school record for victories. The Mustangs won both the GPAC regular season and post-season tournament championships on their way to a third consecutive appearance in the NAIA Softball National Championship tourney. Morningside blasted a school-record 75 home runs and was led by Erin Bohlmann and Kirsten Dargy, who each slugged 14 homers to tie a school record previously set by Mindi (Prince) Sauer 1998. Bohlmann also made news when she was named a Capital One First-Team Academic All-American. Bohlmann, Kylie Helmink, Jordan Johnson, Mackenzie Neely and Emma Remy were all first-team All-GPAC selections, and the freshman Remy was also the GPAC Pitcher of the Year. Neely was named a second-team All-American after she led the Mustangs with a .393 batting average and 54 RBIs.

Longtime coach retires

One of the longest coaching careers in Morningside history came to an end with the conclusion of the 2011 baseball season when Jim Scholten retired after 28 seasons at the helm. Scholten piloted Morningside to a 631-615-4 record, including a 31-21 mark this spring.

Travis Hanson was this year’s NAIA national leader with 44 stolen bases. He was joined on the All-GPAC first team by Steven Aschinger, Bill Meacham and A.J. Staiert. The Mustangs’ new head coach will be Brian Drent 1996, a first-team All-North Central Conference center fielder for Morningside in 1993, who led Sioux City North High School to a Class 4A state championship in 2009.

Monte Larsen earned NAIA All-America honors in three events during the indoor and outdoor track seasons. Photo by

Dr. Gene Knudsen 1971.

Emily Christen gives surprise performance in basketball By Dave Rebstock

One of the leaders of the women’s basketball team this past season was senior Emily Christen, who gave the Mustangs their most rebounding production from the post position since the days of Jennifer (Childress) Hazelett 1998. Christen averaged 10.4 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game and also led the team in field goal accuracy at 50.2 percent and with 44 blocked shots, including a season’s high five rejections against Northwestern in the semifinals of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Division II National Tournament. Aside from her coaches and teammates, probably nobody saw it coming. Christen had been a relative unknown for the Mustangs the previous two years, when she waited to join the basketball team until after the volleyball season had ended. Christen was an All-Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) performer on the volleyball court, but the late starts in basketball limited her to just 31 games and averages of 1.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per game over her sophomore and junior seasons. “The transition from volleyball to basketball was hard because I basically had to start a month behind everyone else,” Christen said. “I would make all the pre-season mistakes while everyone else was a month ahead of me. I always felt I finally caught up with everyone else right at the end of the season when it was too late.” Christen said this year she was on the same page as her teammates. “I was able to go through every aspect of the basketball season with my teammates, from the summer workouts to pre-season conditioning to the first month of practice,” she said. “I think it’s beneficial for teammates to work, struggle, improve and succeed with each other because it builds a strong bond between them.” Christen came out of the starting blocks fast with four double-doubles in the first nine games, including a 17-point and season’s high 13-rebound performance in a memorable 103-96 overtime win against Iowa Wesleyan to spark a Mustang rally from a 24-point deficit with just 8:05 left in the game. She also grabbed a key offensive rebound on a missed free throw that led to a game-winning 3-pointer by Chelsie Trask with 4 seconds left in an early season 62-61 victory at Sioux Falls. “I will always remember the Iowa Wesleyan game when we came back from more than 20 points and our first game against Sioux Falls when Tanaeya (Worden) intentionally missed a free throw so Chelsie could make the game-winning 3-pointer,” Christen said. “However, the most memorable game for me was when we beat Sioux Falls in the national tournament (a 72-70 triumph). I love the games where you have to work hard the entire time, but the work feels like nothing because everyone is playing hard and at the top of their game. That game was an intense battle from the beginning to the end. It was so much fun, and having my parents and all of my brothers there to see me play the best game of my career meant a lot to me.” Christen said she will always have fond memories of the season. “This season came as close to perfect as I could ever have hoped for,” she said. “I was able to play for such an amazing coaching staff that helped me become a better basketball player and person, and I could not have asked for a better group of teammates to end my college career with. They all exceeded my expectations of what a team could be. I can never thank them enough for all the fun I had, and I am grateful to have been able to play with such a talented group.”

Emily Christen’s productive play in the post was one of the key ingredients in the Mustangs' success during the women's basketball season. Photo courtesy of Dr. Bob Rasmus.