Men's cross country takes 16th at regionals

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Led by solid performances from sophomore Nick Yaeger and freshman Ethan Pellegrino, the Simpson men's cross country team placed 16th at the NCAA Central Region Championships on Saturday.

Yaeger navigated the 8k course in 26:58.57 to place 72nd and Pellegrino took 78th, finishing in 27:04.82.

"I'm thrilled with how our men competed today," head coach Heath Moenck said. "After a very disappointing conference meet it was great to see them respond today."

Simpson scored 494 points to finish fifth among Iowa Conference competitors after placing sixth at the conference meet. Simpson was able to outrun Coe (567) on Saturday.

Leading one of the most talented regions in the nation was St. Olaf, who won the meet with 51 points. Central took second (61), followed by Luther (127).

"Sixteenth place isn't where we want to be as a program, but having such a youthful and inexperienced team, I'm encouraged for our future."

Senior Bryce Phillips finished his career with a 106th-place effort (27:49.77), followed by freshman Blake Willadsen (115th, 28:00.37) and sophomore Miles Kirts (123rd, 28:10.52).

Senior Max Nguyen (126th, 28:15.22) and sophomore Andrew Mayes (140th, 28:52.17) rounded out Simpson's seven.