North Central University Athletics

2026 Season Highlights

Competed in both the indoor and outdoor seasons... In the indoor season, he ran a personal Best (PR) in the mile with a time of 4:57.03 at the M City Classic... Ran a PR in the 1000m at the Ole Opener with a time of 2:57.04... Set a personal record in the 800m race at 2:17.45 at the Vanessa Seljeskog Classic... At the UMAC Indoor Championship Meet, Leighton took 7th in the distance medley relay (DMR) with a time of 12:23.18... He set a PR in the 3000m with a time of 12:12.33... Also ran the mile (4:59.60) and 4x400 relay (3:54.97)... In the outdoor season, he took 5th place in the 3000m steeplechase at the Rider/Bolstorff Invite at 11:20.91... At the UMAc Outdoor Championship, he set three new personal bests in each of his events... He took 8th place in the 3000m steeplechase (11:10.08, 9th in UMAC), 9th in the 1500m (4:31.36, 10th in UMAC), and 12th in the 400m hurdles (1:05.75)... UMAC Indoor Sportsmanship Award... UMAC Academic All-Conference... Named NCCAA Indoor/Outdoor Scholar Athlete... Named to Fall & Spring Athletic Director Honor Roll.

2025 Season Highlights

Competed in both the indoor and outdoor seasons for the Rams... In the indoor season, he competed in the UMAC Indoor Championships, where he placed 6th in the DMR with a time of 12:51.60... He also set a personal record at this meet in the 3000 with a time of 10:21.29... In the outdoor season, he placed 6th in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:10.23... He also placed 8th in the javelin throw, marking 22.61 and setting a personal record... Finished 4th in the 5000 at the Gary Wilson Invitational with a time of 18:04.57... Competed in the Outdoor UMAC Championships, where he placed 5th in the 4x800 with a time of 9:12.37... He also set two personal records in the 400 hurdles (1:09.62, 12th) and the 5000 (17:57.32, 17th)... UMAC Academic All-Conference... Earned the NCCAA Scholar Athlete award... Fall & Spring  Athletic Director Honor Roll.

Prep Career

Ran for Mountain Iron-Buhl High School... MSHSL Most Valuable Teammate in 2023... XC Captain in 2022 and 2023... Graduated in 2024.

Personal

Leighton was born on February 10, 2006... Parents are Eric and Hannah Helander... Siblings are Jasper (17), Tiernan (14), and Cornac Helander (9)... Fifth place speech winner 2024... 2024 Speech Team Captain... Participated in National Honor Society from 2022-24... 2024 NHS President Student... Student Council Member ... School Forest Committee... Participated in choir and drama.