Posted: Feb 12, 2022

Trio of runners lead Simpson at weekend competitions

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Spencer Moon broke the 5000-meter school record, Ryan Courtney shaved over 30 seconds off his personal best in the 3000-meters, and Max Cleveland won his third 60-meter hurdle title of the season to lead the Simpson College men's and women's track and field teams over the weekend.

Moon and Courtney competed with a group of 14 other distance runners at the South Dakota State University Indoor Classic on Friday, while Cleveland ran on Saturday with the rest of the team at the Darren Young Invitational hosted by Grinnell.

A week after resetting his own school record in the 3000-meter run, Moon put his name at the top of the program's 5000-meter leaderboard with a time of 14:22.41 that placed fourth at the Classic. The previous record holder was Danny Bauer, who ran the 5k in 14:25.87 during the 1985 season.

Also competing in the 5k, Harry Dudley notched the first sub-15 minute run of his career to place within the top-15 and rank fifth all-time in the event. In the 3k, Courtney crossed the finish line 32 seconds faster than his previous career best to place 12th with a time of 8:35.62. The senior now has the third-fastest time in school history behind teammates Moon and Dudley.

"Spencer is running at an amazing level right now," said head coach Aaron Fuller. "To see him and the other distance runners go to a big meet in South Dakota and have the level of success they did, it gets you really excited for the future and championship season."

On Saturday, Cleveland raced to first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.32, tied for his second-fastest of the season. Carter Berkey placed third in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump, Aryss Forbes came in fourth in the 400-meter dash, and Cat Lucht ran the fifth-fastest time in the 3000-meters. The men's 4x400 relay team of Ulysses Patterson, Brenden Godbout, Blake DePhillips and Clarke Latcham ran a 3:35.51 to round out Simpson's top-5 placings.

"As we prepare for the A-R-C championships in a few weeks, we challenged some athletes to try some new events today," said Fuller. "Seeing them try something new and have success was the highlight of the day for me. Aryss Forbes' 400 was a new event for her, so to go out and place fourth was great. "

Up Next
Simpson has one final tune-up before the A-R-C Indoor Championships on Feb. 25-26. The Storm will race at the Liz Wuertz Invitational hosted by Wartburg on Feb. 19.

Women's Meet Report - Darren Young Invitational
60 hurdles - 19. Aaliyah Johnson, 10.82
400 - 4. Aryss Forbes - 1:05.39
800 - 11. Abby Loecke, 2:32.34 | 17. Angel Schewe, 2:35.03 | 23. Emily Erhardt, 2:43.25 | 31. Paige Nygaard, 3:04.36
Mile - 10. Emily Erhardt, 5:47.66 | 12. Kyli Orr, 5:50.74 | 20. Katie Murano, 6:08.48
3000 - 5. Cat Lucht, 11:15.87
4x400 relay - 6. Abby Loecke, Aryss Forbes, Angel Schewe, Aaliyah Johnson, 4:28.99
High jump - 8. Aaliyah Johnson, 1.45m
Shot put - 13. Sydney McCarron, 10.72m | 22. Alexis Crozier, 9.05m
Weight throw - 17. Sydney McCarron, 11.03m | 20. Alexis Crozier, 9.08m