Mustang Minutes

By Dave Rebstock

Morningside sports highlights

Football team doesn’t miss a beat

The football team didn’t miss a beat this fall, just one year after fielding the most prolific offensive attack in the history of NAIA football. Morningside established new National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national records last season with averages of 55.5 points and 662.8 yards total offense per game while advancing to the national semifinals of the NAIA Championship Series. The Mustangs were close to those numbers through the first nine games of the current campaign with averages of 59.7 points and 598.4 yards total offense to lead the nation in both categories. The Mustangs’ record stood at 8-1 nine games into the regular season. Morningside’s only loss was a 33-30 setback against two-time reigning National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III National Champion Wisconsin-Whitewater on a rainy night Sept. 24 at Elwood Olsen Stadium. It was a rare matchup between the No. 1-ranked teams in the NAIA and NCAA III divisions. The loss against the Warhawks dropped the Mustangs to No. 4 in the NAIA rankings before they climbed to No. 2 with two regular season dates remaining, including a matchup with undefeated and fifth-ranked Doane on Nov. 14 to determine the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) champion. Morningside entered the campaign riding streaks of four consecutive GPAC championships and appeared certain to extend its run of 11 consecutive post-season appearances in the NAIA Championship Series for the longest active streak in the nation. The Mustangs have the luxury of an experienced senior quarterback in Ryan Kasdorf, who is in his third season as a starter. Kasdorf threw only one interception in the first nine games while raising his career totals to 9,421 yards passing and a school-record 105 touchdown passes. He was the NAIA national leader in pass efficiency for the third year in a row. Morningside’s other primary offensive weapons have been sophomore wide receiver Connor Niles, who was the NAIA national leader with 999 pass reception yards, and junior running back Tyler Kavan, who was closing in on a 1,000-yard season and was the NAIA national leader with 19 touchdowns. Not to be outdone, the Mustangs’ defense ranked fourth in the nation in scoring defense and total defense by allowing averages of only 13.9 points and 264.9 yards per game. The defense has been led by senior linebackers Zac Schleuger and Ethan Stofferan, who ranked one-two on the team’s tackle chart for the second year in a row. Schleuger went over 300 career tackles during the Mustangs’ 79-7 destruction of Briar Cliff to make him one of only six defenders in Morningside history to reach that milestone.

Cross country teams are nationally ranked

It’s been an outstanding cross country season, as both the men’s and women’s teams were nationally ranked heading into the GPAC Championships on Nov. 7 in Crete, Neb., where the men would be going for a third consecutive conference championship. Both teams being nationally ranked at the same time was a first in the history of the program.

Mark Abrams was the top finisher for the men at all five of their regular season meets and was the overall individual champion when he led Morningside to the team title at the Doane Dean White Invitational. The Mustangs captured a second team championship later in the year at the Mount Marty Invitational, where the Mustang women ran second to match a runner-up effort at the Dean White Invitational for their top finish of the season.

The all-freshman group of Myla Brown (left), Mikaela Livengood, Elizabeth Thies, Cheyanne Becker and Alexandra Mankle led the Mustangs to victory at the first three women's golf tournaments. Photo by Dr. Gene Knudsen 1971.

Freshmen have quite a season in golf

The women’s golf team made an impressive debut when it opened the season by winning the team title at the Mount Marty Invitational using an all-freshman lineup of Cheyanne Becker, Myla Brown, Mikaela Livengood, Alexandra Mankle and Elizabeth Thies. The “Freshman Fab Five” kept on rolling by winning the first three tournaments of the season and later added GPAC Qualifier #1 to its list of triumphs. Mankle was the individual medalist when the Mustangs reigned over the two-day College of Saint Mary Invitational. Although the Mustangs didn’t win the Nebraska Wesleyan Pink Classic, they made headlines there as well when Thies aced the 120-yard par three 16th hole with a nine-iron for the first hole-in-one in Morningside women’s golf history. The men’s golf team also won a tournament title during the fall with a first-place finish at the Morningside Invitational, where Zach Ward claimed individual medalist honors with a two-under par 70.

Soccer teams make strides

The men’s and women’s soccer teams displayed vast improvement while climbing up the GPAC ladder this fall. The women’s team finished the regular season as the GPAC runner-up following a ninth-place finish in 2014, and Morningside moved up from 10th to fifth in the GPAC men’s standings.

Amy Samuelson and Amy Grause entered the GPAC Tournament one-two on the Mustangs’ scoring list with 43 and 40 points, respectively, and the senior Samuelson had moved into fifth place on Morningside’s all-time scoring list with 36 career goals and 99 career points. The climb in the men’s standings was made even more impressive considering their 11-player starting lineup usually included eight freshmen, creating optimism for future seasons as well.