Four men's track athletes claim all-conference honors at GPAC Championships

HASTINGS, NEB. – The Great Plains Athletic Conference was all at the same facility for the first time since indoor season this weekend, competing in the GPAC Men's Track and Field Championship at Hastings. The Mustangs had a strong showing against their peers, claiming seven individual top-10 finishes and earning all-conference honors in four events.

Kumunule Gbaley led a trio of Mustangs in the 100-meter dash prelims, placing second with a time of 10.70 seconds to move to the finals. Jaydon Moore was third in 10.80 to move on. Three of the remaining five qualifying times were all 10.82 seconds, pushing Leighton Olesen to the no. 9 spot and out of the finals with his 10.87 second sprint.

Gbaley ran a 10.69 in the finals to finish second, representing the only competitor to improve his time in the finals as he earned all-conference honors. 

Olesen earned points for Morningside and received all-conference honors in the 200-meter dash, leaning for a time of 22.12 seconds to place eighth. He was also part of the 4x100-meter relay team that claimed a fourth place finish of 41.31 seconds, joining Lane Kruger, Gbaley, and Theo Moseman. 

Moseman claimed his own all-conference spot in the 400-meter dash, where he placed sixth in 48.62.

Parker Halder added all-GPAC honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, crossing the line in 10:33.45. 

Cade Johnson had a top-10 finish in the triple jump, placing ninth with a mark of 13.71 meters.

The Mustangs will hope to get some last-chance national qualifiers and improve seed times on Friday as a delegation races against the sunset at Concordia University's Twilight Meet, before sending the national qualifiers off to Indiana Wesleyan later this month.