Two Indianola High School graduates will be representing Simpson College in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships tomorrow, as Carter Berkey and Max Cleveland qualified in the long jump and 60m hurdles respectively.

Cleveland cemented his spot with an 8.13 in the qualifier prelims and then an 8.12 in the final, taking second overall in the event. The 8.12 mark is just .01 seconds off the current school record and puts the Indianola native in 11th place in the country. Berkey set his school record of 7.22 meters in late January , and comes into the meet ranked 16th in the country.

Both athletes say that their time in the Indianola High School program coached by Matt Oliver helped prepare them for the top competition at Simpson.

Berkey
“We ran our program at Indianola pretty much the same as we did here other than the multiple meets per week. We were set up really well for success and it got us ready.”

Cleveland
“I feel like it really prepared us because they cared a lot, they still do care a lot obviously. It’s been really cool as we succeed in college to have him check up on us, and when we see him in the community because we are from here to have them express that they are still looking at our times and checking our meets, it’s really cool.”

For more information, tune in to today’s Let’s Talk Indianola.