The Storm men’s and women’s track and field teams recently competed at the Iowa State Cyclone Open. Seniors Lara Kallem and Spencer Moon each broke records in the 3,000-meter race to start the season strong at the open.

Senior Lara Kallem broke the 3,000-meter school record with a time of 10:09.91. According to Simpson College Athletics, Kallem broke the previous school record set by Sarah Cross in 1990.

“Going into the meet, I wanted to run 10:10, which would break our [school’s] previous record of 10:11.25,” Kallem said.

Kallem is not planning to stop anytime soon, however, as she is looking forward to the rest of the indoor season.

Some of my goals going into the rest of the season include breaking the indoor 5K school record, being all-conference, and qualifying for indoor nationals.” 

Kallem also currently holds the 5,000-meter outdoor school record.

“It is so rewarding to see your own progress as well as your teammates’ progress. You put in the work, and you see the results and it’s so fun to celebrate with each other.” Kallem said. .

Speaking of breaking running records, another name that may come to mind is Spencer Moon.

If you have not heard of senior Spencer Moon by now, his performance in this meet alone proves how much of a superstar he has become at the school, in the conference, and on a national level. Besides breaking his own school record in the 3,000 meter, he also broke the conference record by almost nine seconds. 

Moon ran a time of 8:04.91, beating his previous record by more than 10 seconds and made him 7th all-time in DIII history. 

“My goal going into the meet was to get as close as I could to 8 minutes. I think I did really well, all things considered,” Moon said.

Although Moon currently holds the country’s leading time so far this year, he still has big goals for the rest of the season.

“I have quite a few different goals, but the main one is to be All-American for indoor and outdoor track. I also want to lower my records as much as I can and move up on the DIII all-time lists,” Moon explained.

As for the upcoming season, Moon is enjoying his last few moments in a Storm uniform.

“This season, I am really taking one meet at a time,” Moon said. “I want to keep running after college and eventually move to the marathon, but it’s really fun to look back through the years in my time at Simpson and see how I have grown and learned through my experiences.”

“What I love about the sport of track and field from a personal point of view is that I also am chasing a better version of myself,” Moon said.“From a team perspective, I love running a long run and chatting with my friends or hurting in a workout together with them. In long-distance running, you spend a lot of time with the people around you and luckily, I have a lot of great friends around.” 

Both track and field teams will head to Waverly, Iowa, to compete at the Wartburg Select on Feb. 3, beginning at 9 a.m.