FAB FOUR – Morningside stands atop GPAC men’s leaderboard

VERMILLION, S.D. – Four automatic All-Great Plains Athletic Conference honors helped spotlight a special weekend for Morningside University Friday and Saturday, April 22-23.

Behind the top 10 finishes of seniors Sam Storey (Surrey, England) and Xan Milligan (Hexham, England), sophomore Jackson Sitzmann (Sioux City, Iowa), and freshman Mason Weeks (Spirit Lake, Iowa), first-year head coach Nick Wanderscheid's program claimed its fourth successive conference championship. Only one of the two rounds scheduled for the Bluffs Golf Course was played as high winds forced the cancellation of Saturday's final 18.

Storey and Weeks shared the individual medalist award for the Mustangs. They each carded 216s at the end of 54 holes. It was the third successive season in which Morningside claimed individual medalist accolades.

"We're thrilled with the title," Wanderscheid admitted. "We felt great about where we were after three rounds. We struggled a little Friday, but we led the tournament in all three rounds, which is a good formula to win a championship."

"You can't ask for more than a team title and two guys sharing the medalist award," he added. "Nationals, here we come."

Morningside's road to the crown was paved through team tournament-low 278 during the fall first round at Indian Creek Golf Course outside of Omaha last September. Mside continued to hold a double-digit lead through the second fall round and Friday's spring first round from that starting point. The final edge was 869-880 over runner-up Midland University. 

"All year, we've been about keeping things simple during each round," Wanderscheid said. "It can be easy to get wrapped up in the noise of a tournament. This group never did that. They are so experienced --- they understand their jobs and know what to do."

Morningside's victory furnishes the Mustangs an automatic bid to the 2022 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships on May 17-20 at Deere Run Golf Course in Silvis, Ill.

"We're comfortable there," Wanderscheid noted of the venue of the national. "Heck, we had an individual national champion there last year and hope to keep that mojo going. We played pretty well in rough conditions earlier this month at Lawrence Tech's meet."

"It's nice to be somewhere we've been before," he added. "When you are at a tournament, the scope of nationals, you want to take as much unknown out of the equation."