The Simpson men’s cross country team is heading into the regional meet with hopes of finishing off the season on a high note.

“This meet will be fun for the fact that it will be one of the last times that all five seniors will be running together,” said Head Coach Erin Bresnan.

The Storm is just coming off the conference meet where it placed seventh with 180 points, just shy of Coe in sixth place with 171 points.

“We didn’t meet our expectations,” said senior Tony Ekman. “We expected to do better than we did, I think it’s safe to say most of us were disappointed.”

Even though the team might not have fared as well as it liked, Ekman pulled through and finished in the top 15 runners, earning All Conference honors.

“Tony had a great race,” said Bresnan. “He had a break out race and also his best time of the season (26:58).”

The Storm will be traveling to Grinnell this weekend for the NCAA Regional Championships, which are set to start at 12 p.m.

The team originally thought it would have an additional runner this season, but due to being denied for a medical hardship, it wasn’t going to be possible.

“Losing that runner made a big difference in how our team scores,” said Bresnan. “But we pulled together, refocused and worked with the other guys on the team.”

“We’re going into regionals to run another race and to have some fun,” said Ekman. “We also want to end our senior year on a good note.”