Senior Taylor Rorick collected her first collegiate cross country win in dramatic fashion as she beat Kansas State’s Emma Baum by half a second in the women’s 5K at the sixth annual Platte River Rumble Gold meet last Friday. Rorick anchored the Bluejay women to a second-place finish as the men placed four runners in the top 10 to also finish second in the program’s first meet under interim head coach Matthew Fayers.
After commanding a sizeable lead through the first 3,000 meters of the race, Rorick momentarily lost her advantage to a trio of Kansas State runners before a decisive push through the final turn positioned her to take the win.
“It was a really fast finish,” Rorick said. “It was a lot of fun, and they really pushed me at the end.”
Despite the meet being rescheduled from evening to morning due to forecasted heat, Rorick notched a three-second PR of 17:41 in the 5K in what Fayers termed a “roasty toasty” morning at the Olsson Cross Country Course.
“We kind of had an idea that Taylor could mix it up with K-State’s top two,” Fayers said. “We thought [Baum and her teammates] would go out a little more aggressive, and so it was a very interesting race.”
Freshman Tatum Neilson finished tenth in her collegiate debut, posting a time of 18:37 as she finished alongside her fifth-year teammate Sophia Valentine (11th, 18:38). The women’s team relied on a mix of experience and youth as five of the ten runners that toed the line made their Creighton debut, including four freshmen. Sophomore Sarah Vaske (15th, 19:04) and junior Alexis Leone (17th, 19:15) rounded out the scorers for the Bluejays.
“Our ladies went out really strong and went out there with a competitive attitude … we are just going to continue to get better on the women’s side,” Fayers said.
The men’s 6,000-meter race featured an aggressive start, with a large pack of Bluejay and Wildcat runners passing the 1K mark in three minutes. K-State’s top three pulled away in the second half of the race as senior Tommy Murray battled to finish fourth with a time of 18:47. Fifth-year Dominic Ricci finished sixth in a breakout race (18:57) while senior Evan Kraus (seventh, 19:10) and juniors Andrew Sauer (10th, 19:23) and Lucas Bossinger (11th, 19:25) also scored.
Friday marked Murray and Kraus’s first cross country races since 2024, as both men took redshirt years in 2025. Fayers described the efforts of his upperclassmen as “super encouraging.”
Following a week off from racing, both teams will travel to Ames, Iowa, for a return to the traditional 8K (Men’s) and 6K (Women’s) distances on the course set to host November’s NCAA Midwest Regional meet.
“You could honestly consider it a bit of a scouting trip,” Fayers said. “I think we’ve got really good goals at the end of the season.”
The teams will return to action on Sept. 18 at Iowa State.