Storm athletes to compete in five events at national championships
INDIANOLA, Iowa - Four members of the Simpson men's track and field team will compete in five events at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Rochester, N.Y.
Carter Berkey, Max Cleveland, Spencer Moon, and Ulysses Patterson will all compete at the championships. Berkey, Cleveland, and Moon also qualified for the indoor national meet in the winter, while Patterson qualifies for the first time.
Moon will compete in two events at the meet, the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Moon won both of those events at the American Rivers Conference Championships, as he did in the indoor championships as well. The two titles were his fourth and fifth career conference track and field titles and he holds the school records in both the indoor and outdoor versions of the events. Moon is currently 12th in the country in the 5,000 with a time of 14:04.83, the current school record. He is also seventh in the 10,000 with another school-record time of 29:27.19. Moon is only one of two conference qualifiers in each event.
Berkey also qualifies for the national meet in the long jump. Berkey is the current school record holder in the indoor version of the event and also ranks second in school history after a jump of 7.24 meters earlier this year. The senior, a local product from Indianola, is currently ranked 22nd in the country and will look to finish strong in his last collegiate competition.
Cleveland, also a native of Indianola, qualifies in the 110 meter hurdles. Cleveland knew he had to run a career-best in the last chance qualifier event yesterday, first qualifying for the finals of the event. Cleveland then took third place in the final with a career-best 14.43, maintaining his fourth-place spot on the all-time Storm list. Cleveland's time took him from just inside the top 30 to a tie for 19th.
Patterson is the final qualifier for the Storm, also knowing he had to set a career-best in the decathlon to have a chance of qualifying. Patterson, who competed at the Central College Last Chance Multi, set a new career-best of 6,366 points, moving him into sixth all-time in school history. After winning four events and setting a career-best in the 1,500 meters to wrap up the competition, the overall score ranks him 22nd in the country.
The meet will take place over three days, beginning next Thursday. It will be held at the Polisseni Track and Field Complex in Rochester, N.Y. Stay tuned to simpsonathletics.com for all updated information regarding the meet and schedule of events.
