Three members of the Simpson Men’s Track team qualified to compete in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships this month. Seniors Spencer Moon, Carter Berkey, and Max Cleveland competed on March 10th in Birmingham, Alabama.

It was Moon’s third time running at nationals, and this year he returned as an All-American. He competed in the 3000 and 5000-meter runs.

“I have made it to cross-country nationals twice and was an All-American this year. I have made it to indoor and outdoor track nationals twice for both,” Moon said. “Each year of college I run more and that has allowed me from just making it to nationals to actually being competitive at the national stage.”

For the most part, Moon thought indoor Nationals this year was not as satisfying as previous years.

“It is always fun to be at nationals but this indoor was a little disappointing. I was an All-American in cross country and I had some big momentum going into the national meet,” Moon said. “Unfortunately, my legs didn’t feel great and I didn’t meet my final goal of being an All-American in indoor this year.”

Overall, Moon placed 15th in the men’s 5000-meter run and 14th in the men’s 3000-meter run.

For Berkey and Cleveland, it was their first time competing at indoor nationals. Berkey qualified for the long jump while Cleveland qualified for the 60-meter hurdles.

Berkey placed 18th in the men’s long jump and says he couldn’t have made it as far without the help of his coaches.

“We brought in a new jumps coach for me and he’s brought experience and knowledge that I haven’t had in the past, with him coaching professional level athletes at all three levels,” Berkey said. “Bringing in that knowledge really set me up for success this year.”

Cleveland placed 11th in the 60-meter hurdles and says he did it with the help of his coaches and teammates.

“Having another year under Fuller’s leadership helped because having him transition in and having it be his first-year last year was different. We’re a lot more comfortable with the way he does things now,” Cleveland said. “Also, just being intentional as a team this year as far as what our goals are, meeting together, pushing each other, and knowing each other’s goals has been a huge help too.”

Cleveland and Berkey have been teammates since they were in high school and both agree this year is one for the history books.

“We’ve seen each other go from high school athletes since we were both teammates in high school,” Berkey says. “Seeing how we’ve improved these last 4-5 years has just been amazing, and being able to see it all come together at the national meet was really cool.”

Cleveland says he plans on staying for a fifth year and hopes to make it to nationals again.

The Storm will have their first outdoor track meet of the year on April 1st at the Wartburg Select in Waverly, Iowa.