Farrand, Storm turn heads at Drews/Neubauer Invite

WEST SALEM, Wis. – Behind a great performance by Joe Farrand, the Simpson men's cross country team shook up the landscape of the Central Region with a 12th-place finish of 26 teams at the Jim Drews/Tori Neubauer Invitational on Saturday.

With 336 points, the Storm placed 11th among collegiate teams and beat a Wartburg team that came into the meet as the No. 3 team in the USTFCCCA Central Region rankings. Warburg finished with 354 points.

In all, the meet featured eight of the top 10 teams in the region, according to the regional rankings.

Farrand led the way for Simpson, placing 15th and finishing the 8k course in a personal-best time of 25:46.8 despite the wet, muddy conditions.

"Joe raced very well today," head coach Heath Moenck said. "Placing 15th in this field is a tremendous accomplishment. Overall, our men put forth a great group effort."

Leading Simpson's second wave was John Warnke, who finished in 45th (26:21.8). Jake Sutton placed 73rd (26:43.2), Mitchell Davis 101st (27:10.1), Nick Yaeger 102nd (27:11.4), Miles Kirts 126th (27:43.4) and Andrew Mayes 150th (28:20.9) to round out Simpson's top seven.

One of the largest collegiate meets in the nation, 461 individuals took part in the event, hosted annually by the University of Wisconsin La Crosse.

UW-La Crosse won the meet with 45 points, followed by UW-Platteville (111), Central (131), Iowa Central (161) and St. Olaf (184).

Next up for Simpson are the Iowa Conference Championships on Saturday, Oct. 27 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.