Max Cleveland, James Murray, Brenden Godbout and Aryss Forbes all brought home gold in their events at the Central Invitational on April 9 in Pella, Iowa. 

Murray claimed the first gold medal of the day, setting the pace for the Storm. In the 3000-meter run, Murray finished at 8:45.27. He was followed by four other Simpson athletes: Noah Nelsen, Louden Foster, Ean Warrick and Andrew Klein, to give Simpson the top five spots. 

“It was pretty tough and I was lucky enough to have a solid group of teammates around me the entire race. After I finished I was just happy to have a few of the boys run personal bests with me, and there were a lot of smiles after the pain wore off,” Murray said. 

Murray’s winning event at the Central Invitational marks his longest-distance victory. 

“The 3000-meter at Central was the first time I had a race longer than a mile on the track, so I upped my mileage quite a bit since coming out of indoor season,” Murray said. “It has seemed to pay off the past two weekends and I’ve really been enjoying racing longer distances.”

The 400-meter hurdles top spot in the men’s races was claimed by Godbout with a time of 58.03. Godbout, a first-year, is making an impact in his Simpson career early through sprinting and hurdles. 

With a time of 50.16, Cleveland not only won the 400-meter dash but also claimed the fourth-fastest time in the conference this season. 

“I felt good in the race until about the 250-meter mark. Honestly, that was the worst I have ever felt after a race had ended,” Cleveland said. “I knew I wasn’t as in shape as I wanted to be after running on limited practice, but that 400 absolutely took me out. I was on the ground for quite a while afterward; I was very dizzy.”

On the women’s side of the Storm’s efforts, Forbes won the 200-meter dash with a personal-best of 27.55. 

“I wasn’t in the front of the pack at the start of my race. So, my thoughts were to keep pushing and building up speed,” Forbes said. “I overtook the girl in front of me within the last 10 meters to win the race. I knew I won my heat, but I didn’t know that I won the event until all the times were posted. It felt great to win the event. Especially since I won’t get many opportunities to win an event again.”

Hard practice and dedication were qualities that many of these athletes credited with their success. 

“One thing that has helped me out is to not slack off during hard practices because those harder workouts really help you. Even though I don’t want to do them, I still do because I know that they are helping me progress into a great track athlete,” Forbes said. 

In all, the men’s team scored a total of 90 points, placing third. The women’s team ended in fourth place with 69 points. Central College won both titles.