Five event titles, Ridout honor spotlight Mustangs at Sioux City Relays

SIOUX CITY, IOWA – A little dose of the home facilities in and around Elwood Olsen Stadium gave Morningside University's men's and women's track and field squads a shot in the arm Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9. 

Competing against always tough fields at the 2022 Sioux City Relays, Siouxland's athletic gem, head coach Dave Nash's squads made his last official home meet a memorable one. Senior women's standout Betsy Ridout (Ankeny, Iowa) won the 100, 200 and was the third leg on the champion sprint medley relay squad. Her efforts led her to the Relays' women's Most Outstanding Performer honor. 

Ridout clocked a career personal best 12.46 in the 100 preliminaries as part of her event victory. She came back to just be 12-hundredths of a second off that pace in the 100 final (12.58), winning by .16-hundredths. Her 26.64 winning effort in the 200 nipped NCAA Division II student-athlete Sarah Cotton of Wayne State at the line by six-hundredths for first. Ridout and relay teammates senior Jo McKibben (Mapleton, Iowa), junior Hope Morken (Ames, Iowa), and junior Carlie Yeakel (Rock Rapids, Iowa) to cross first (4:22.02), claiming the sprint medley race by more than 12 seconds.

Joining Ridout in the winner's circle, senior distance runner Kristine Honomichl (Westminster, Colo.) captured the 5000 meters for four event women's event victors. Her 18:22.31 took first by over a minute and a half.

Nash's men also got in on the event winning act. Sophomore hurdler Austin Freiberg (Sergeant Bluff, Iowa) claimed the 110-meter high hurdles titles with a career personal best 15.14-second effort. It eclipsed Briar Cliff University's Paxon Fleming runner-up mark by .17 seconds. 

Four events also benefitted on the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' Track and Field Results Reporting System outdoor national championships list. Freiberg's 110-meter hurdle winning time moved him into the top 40 (No. 39); senior Emalee Fundermann (Anthon, Iowa), taking third in the 800, improved her season best mark (2:19.36) to climb to No. 28; senior Ro Paschal (Mancos, Colo.) moved to No. 44 on the 1500 meter list (4:00.39) as part of his fifth-place finish; and Yeakel's 1:06.99 in the 400-meter hurdles, second-fastest in the race, put her 35^th.

Mside continues its season Wednesday and Thursday, April 13 and 14. They compete at the Northwestern College Open.