Morningside men's swimming shines in home finale

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Mustangs opened and closed the day Saturday with relay victories, and saw a handful of strong performances in the final home competition of the 2023-24 season Saturday afternoon.

The first race of the day, the 200-yard medley relay, was a win for the Mustangs. The quartet of John Spicer, Caden Morton, MK Mkhize, and Jack La Rue swam 1:45.05 to win and the team of Bradley Palmer, Jacob Haase, Jake Bolda, and Gabe Marthaler took second in 1:48.62.

In the final race of the day, Spicer was joined by Walker Goebel, Cael Jensen, and Willy Pinnow to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:20.37. A team of freshmen, Alejandro Plaza, Ethan Van Tassel, Mitchel Cross, and Lionel Hynes took third in 4:00.5. 

There was plenty of success between the relays for the Mustangs, who won the team competition 156-40 over Minnesota-Morris. The individual race accolades started in the 1,000 freestyle, where Plaza (10:56.8), Van Tassel (12:00.37) and Cross (13:38.05) placed first, second and fourth respectively.

One provisional mark was met on the day for Morningside. Spicer swam 47.48 in the 100 freestyle to meet the NAIA Provisional Cut of 48.55. Mkhize placed second in the race at 52.6.

In the 200 free, Pinnow was less than a second from the NAIA Provisional Cut, swimming 1:48.58 to win the event. Goebel placed third at 1:51.38 and Morton fourth at 1:57.79. La Rue was within a second of the provisional mark in the 50 freestyle as well. He won the event in 22.93. Four other Mustangs placed in the top six spots in the race. Palmer took second in 23.39 and Jensen took third in 23.71. Haase (24.56) and Lionel Hynes (27.74) took fifth and sixth place.

Morningside took the top two spots in the 200 IM, led by Mkhize at 2:07.14, and followed by Bolda at 2:08.46. Marthaler took fourth in 2:29.53. The next event had more of the same for Morningside, as Goebel won the 100 butterfly in 55.56. La Rue took second at 57.35 and Van Tassel fourth at 1:08.03.

Pinnow (57.56), Palmer (59.59), and Jensen (1:02.2) placed second, third, and fourth in the 100 backstroke. In the second long distance race of the day, the 500 free, Bolda bested Plaza for the top spot, swimming 5:07.18. Plaza swam 5:16.83. Morton won the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.35, followed by teammates Haase (1:07.11) and Marthaler (1:09.97).

Morningside is back in action at the Hamline Invitational Jan. 27 in Saint Paul, Minn.