LINCOLN, Neb. — Creighton cross country posted strong performances on both the men’s and women’s sides at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational at Mahoney Golf Course. Building upon a pair of top-ten finishes in the Bluejays’ season opener on Sept. 20, both squads approached the meet as a chance to develop depth, experience and confidence heading into the heart of the season.
“It was a really, really good day for both men and women,” Head Coach Chris Gannon said. “We didn’t really back up training at all this week, so we just kind of trained through the week and had some good performances.”
On the women’s side, Taylor Rorick led the Bluejays with a fourth-place finish in 17:53.05 in the 5k, marking her second consecutive top-ten performance after finishing seventh in the Platte River Rumble on Sept. 5.
“My game plan for this race was just to build upon last [meet],” Rorick said. “I kind of just approached this as another workout, another opportunity to compete and see where I’m at as we continue to build toward Big East and Regionals.”
Returning nearly all runners from last season’s regional squad, the women’s team combined experience and fresh energy, helping to maintain a strong, consistent pack throughout the race.
“We kind of used last year as a stepping stone to continue to raise the floor and get better each day,” Rorick said. “Every race is a new opportunity, and this year our team has been working really hard. It’s such a supportive fun environment, and I think that that’s really starting to show in races.”
Rorick was followed by freshman Reyna Heisserer, who finished 20th with a time of 18:25.84, and Atlee Wallman, who crossed the line in 28th place at 18:37.92. Sophomore Alexis Leone and senior Anika Nettekoven finished just behind, with Leone placing 39th in 18:56.16 and Nettekoven 41st in 18:56.49, rounding out the Bluejay scoring pack. Creighton’s women’s team placed fifth out of 22 teams, finishing behind Missouri, Nebraska-Kearney, Wichita State and Northwest Missouri State.
“It’s probably the deepest team in school history,” Gannon said. “It’s been fun to see them just continue to develop, come together and work together as a unit. We talked a lot about that running together in packs and we saw that today.”
On the men’s side, freshman Owen Marett led the Bluejays, finishing 31st with a time of 25:23.87 over the 8K course. He was followed by fellow freshman Andrew Sauer, who placed 51st in 25:49.98, while senior Eli Moore finished 54th in 25:53.32. Sophomore Lucas Bossinger came in 59th at 25:57.74, while Sam Berlinghof rounded out the scoring five in 60th place at 25:58.71. The combination of youth and experience helped Creighton’s men secure eighth place out of 23 teams, ahead of hosts Nebraska and Nebraska Wesleyan.
“As the kids would say, Owen’s a complete dog. You know, he’s a complete stud. Andrew Sauer ran great, Lucas Bossinger ran phenomenal,” Gannon said. “And then when we saw what we were hoping to see out of a couple of those older kids today —Cole and Eli filling in and stepping up and closing some less scoring gap — that’s what the men’s team needs to be successful.”
Saturday also marked the men’s first 8K of the season, giving a freshman-heavy team the opportunity to practice pacing and pack running over a longer distance. Marett said the focus was on teamwork and finishing strong rather than individual times.
“I think it was interesting because it’s a lot of people’s first 8K,” Marett said. “We’re pretty freshman-heavy, at least right now, and Gannon’s been talking about he doesn’t know who our one is, who our seven is. So, we’ve been working on pack running a lot in workouts and practice. It was really important for us to get out together. I think we all sort of had time goals, but the biggest thing was that we wanted to work together to score well,” he said.
Both squads will return to training in preparation for the SDSU Classic on Oct. 3.
“We’ll be back into training for the next couple weeks and then get ready for South Dakota State, but it’s a really good place for us to be right now,” Gannon said. “We said all along this women’s team has a chance to be really good, and … hopefully everything looks the way it needs to at the end of October.”