Mustangs seek continued 2019-20 success, host national qualifier

The Great Plains Athletic Conference descends upon Morningside College's Allee Gymnasium and Rosen-Verdoorn Sports Center for 2020 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' Northwest national qualifier Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28 and 29.

The dance portion begins at 12 p.m. Friday. Cheer competition is set for an 11 a.m. start Saturday. Live video throughout the weekend is available over a link at www.msidemustangs.com, the Internet home of Morningside College athletics.

Mustang Marks: Head coach Alisha Steckler Maroon dance squad, this year's GPAC champions and 2019 qualifier runner-ups, are seeking another trip to the national championships where the program has run off three successive top-six efforts. "We're still working on our confidence a little bit, but it did help to win the conference championship," Mside's head coach reflected. "This weekend is a new competition. We still need to get our confidence going strong again … keeping the positive mindset in place. It's all about the athletes communicating and doing what we can to put our best effort on the floor. It was nice to get the routine (back on the floor) one more time during a midweek home basketball game … we can take a look back at that performance and clean up some things during practice today (Thursday) and warm-ups before the preliminaries. We're all hoping for similar success (to what happened) at the conference meet. It's a whole new day … we'll have to see what happens." … Morningside's cheer team, led by first-year head coach Dakota Van Hauen, looks to improve upon a fifth-place finish of a year ago and add to a season that's seen them go 4-1 in duals and place among the league's first five. "With the recent changes we've made, our routines have been developing very well," Van Hauen noted. "We're getting better and better every time out. The key (to the weekend) is for us to get out of our heads and just compete … don't overthink situations and so forth. (The athletes) just need to do the routine they know how to do … from that point, whatever happens, happens. We can just do the best we can … it's all we can control." … The champion in both competitions earns automatic bids to the 2020 NAIA Championships set for Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14, at Lee Lohman Arena on the campus of St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.