Creighton University’s men’s and women’s track teams recently took their talents down south, competing in the Nebraska Tune-Up at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Marking the conclusion of the indoor season, this meet offered a final chance for the athletes to fine-tune their performances before transitioning to outdoor competition. 

“Today was an opportunity to close out the regular season for the indoor meet, and we told our athletes, ‘This is the fittest you are going to be all indoor season, so let’s make the most of it.’ And I think we saw a lot of people going for it,” assistant coach Matthew Fayers said. “A lot of races were set up where we were leading or biding our time, and I think that led to some really great performances.” 

The Jays started the meet off strong, with sophomore Brian Hiltebrand, junior Tommy Ward, and freshman Tommy Murray running 4:18.66, 4:19.08, and 4:19.08 to each set a personal record in the men’s one-mile run, earning the sixth through eighth spots. Meanwhile, sophomore Anika Nettekoven set a personal record of her own, running a time of 5:07.29 to claim eighth place in the women’s mile. 

“Anika ran really well in the women’s mile,” Fayers said. “I said to one of the ladies before, ‘If she treats this like a workout, she’s going to crush it,’ and she did. It was awesome to see her stick to the plan.” 

In the men’s 800-meter, junior Jake Ziebarth ran his fastest time in his collegiate career, securing a second-place finish amongst a competitive field. Placing fifth, freshman Ryan Hendrickson ran a time of 1:54.57, while senior Michael Buckley finished in eighth place with a time of 1:56.01. 

“I was really happy with my race,” Ziebarth said. “Just getting to improve and see progress, I am just really excited to keep bringing the time down. I knew that the heat would set up well with a lot of good competition, so I was happy that I was able to get out quick and just hold on. I think it helped develop for a fast time.” 

“Jake came agonizingly close to the school record; he was about four-hundredths of a second off, so it would have been really nice to see him go for that,” Fayers mentioned, “but he ran really well and will be competitive this outdoor season.” 

The Jays also dominated the women’s 3,000-meter run, finishing second, third, fourth and fifth, with freshman Claire Payne rounding out the top ten with a time of 10:51.91. Junior Morgan Koca led the pack with a time of 10:11.62, while sophomore Katherine Soule finished third and earned a new personal best with a time of 10:15.98. 

“I feel really good about how I raced today,” Soule said. “I was able to run a PR today, so I am really excited about that. Indoor sets up really well for outdoor, so I am feeling good. I will be running that same distance, just in the 3k Steeplechase, so just hoping to take this work that we have put in all winter and have some face times.” 

The men followed that performance with three runners placing in the top five. Junior Marcos Gonzalez ran a time of 8:26.67, earning third place as freshman Evan Kraus and junior Ryan Montera finished just a few seconds behind to claim the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. 

The night concluded with the energetic 4×400 meter relay, where the Creighton freshman faced off against a veteran team of Ward, Hiltebrand, Ziebarth, and Buckley. Though the rookies fought valiantly, the experienced team came out on top, defeating the freshman with a time of 3:23.53 to finish fifth overall. 

“In the men’s 4 by 4, we had the freshman all-star team versus the world, and the world came up on top,” Fayers said, “so that had to be the race of the day.” 

Fayers was pleased with the overall results of the meet, believing it provided a solid foundation for the upcoming outdoor competitions. 

“As we head into the outdoor season, we are in a really good place,” Fayers said. “We have built a good foundation, and we are just going to continue to build off it. If you look at the work we have done, it’s not a whole lot. We have built a foundation, but now we have to build that specific work. The kids are calling it ‘March Madness,’ the training we are going to be doing the next month, so both myself and [head] coach [Chris] Gannon, we are really excited to get back to it and build confidence. It’s our first ever year competing at the outdoor BIG EAST Conference, so you are going to see some more BIG EAST runners for the first time in school history, and I think that is really fun. I couldn’t be happier with this indoor season, for sure.” 

The team will now focus on preparing for the outdoor season ahead, competing next at the Emporia State Relays on March 28 before heading back to Vermillion for the USD Early Bird the following week.