Mount Mercy Cross Country Earns Inaugural Heart Sportsmanship Team Award

For their display of the NAIA's Five Core Character Values on and off the competition field of Integrity, Respect, Responsibility, Sportsmanship & Servant Leadership, the Mount Mercy Cross Country program has been selected the 2021 Heart Sportsmanship Team Award recipient for the sport of cross country.

"This award was developed by the Heart Association of Student-Athletes (HASA) and I am proud to see this come to fruition," said Heart of America Athletic Conference Commissioner Lori Thomas. "Under head coach Tad Hulst, the Mustangs are very deserving of this inaugural award."

This is the first year of the Heart Sportsmanship Team award, as teams are nominated by Athletics Administrators, Game Officials, Coaches, Student-Athletes, Fans etc.

Here is what the nominators had to say about the Mustangs:

"The Mount Mercy cross country team exemplified the five Core Character values when it came to how they hosted their meets this year. They knew that they were hosting the conference championship meet, so they gave two opportunities to conference teams to come in and compete on their course before the conference meet. They always asked us feedback on what they can do to improve to make sure it is a great race for all participants involved."

For the fall season, the Heart will be awarding its Sportsmanship Team award to one team from each sport of women's soccer, men's soccer, women's volleyball, football and cross country. 

If you would like to nominate a team in the future for the Heart Sportsmanship Team Award, please click here.