Leggett and Johnson pace Storm for seventh place finish at NCAA Regionals

WAVERLY, Iowa - Led by Cole Leggett and James Johnson's top-30 performances, the Simpson men's cross country team took seventh overall at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Saturday.

Leggett dropped nearly a minute off his time from last year's regional, shot up the leaderboards going from 61st last season to leading the Storm in 26th in 2025. Johnson saw a 90 second improvement from last year to this year, climbing from 97th to 29th overall in the region and a second place finish on the team.

Drew Engler was the third Storm to finish under the 26-minute mark, taking third on the team and 44th overall with a time of 25:51.9, a 46-second improvement from last year's race. Ezra De Cleene and David Lochner finished just five seconds apart for 63rd and 68th overall. Ben Reyes and Doug Berg rounded out the team scorecard in 95th and 127th overall.

As a team, Simpson placed seventh in the region with a score of 225. Host school and top-ranked Wartburg claimed the title with a team score of 30. Six schools from the A-R-C finished in the top-10.

TEAM STANDINGS

1 - Wartburg - 30
2 - U. of Chicago - 87
3 - North Central (Ill.) - 93
4 - Loras - 128
5 - Washington U. - 134
6 - Central - 189
7 - Simpson - 225
8 - Nebraska Wesleyan - 239
9 - Grinnell - 279
10 - Dubuque - 285

TOP SEVEN FINISHERS

26th - Cole Leggett - 25:12.5
29th - James Johnson - 25:21.0
44th - Drew Engler - 25:51.9
63rd - Ezra De Cleene - 26:31.8
68th - David Lochner - 26:36.9
95th - Ben Reyes - 27:04.9
127th - Doug Berg - 27:44.3