Gonzalez Runs to 10K Record as Cross Country Ends Season at Regionals

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Marcos Gonzalez set a school record in the 10K to lead the Creighton cross country teams at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday afternoon in Columbia, Mo. The Bluejay men finished 23rd of 27 teams, while the CU women placed 30th in the field of 33 squads.

"Today is a day that will make us better moving forward," said head coach Chris Gannon. "The Midwest region is one of the toughest in the country. It was a good performance from the men, moving up and beating teams that had finished ahead of us earlier in the season. The ladies ran well and gained some good experience for a group that returns five for next year."

Gonzalez placed 81st overall in a time of 31:02.5, smashing Eric Schliemann's previous school record of 31:14 that was set in 2002.at the NCAA Midwest Regionals. The Phoenix, Ariz., native was in 159th after 1,000 meters and improved his placing at every 1,000 meter checkpoint the rest of the way en route to the record. It's the second time this fall that Gonzalez has set a school-record on the Gans Creek Cross Country Course after taking down Peter Cole's 8K record that dated to 2007 on Sept. 30 with a time of 24:33.

Tommy Ward crossed the finish line in 31:18.9 to place 103rd, the third-fastest 10K time in Bluejay history. Ryan Montera (31:28.6) earned a 117th place finish, while sophomore Henry Slagle (32:04.0) took 153rd and classmate Jake Ziebarth (32;04.8) 155th place in the race.

"Marcos ran the fastest 10k time in school history, Tommy ran the third-fastest ever and Ryan the fifth-best " noted Gannon. "Every guy that ran today put their name on the all-time list."

Oklahoma State's Isai Rodriguez (29:40.1) won the race by 1.2 seconds over Loyola Chicago's Ryan Martins (29:41.3). The men's team title went to Tulsa in a tiebreaker over Oklahoma State, as both teams finished with 49 points. Creighton finished one spot in the team standings ahead of Nebraska, which finished 37 points behind CU. The men's race contained 27 teams and 199 runners.

Morgan Koca led Creighton on the women's side for the fifth consecutive race as she took 116th place with a time of 21:56.1. Ironically, Koca had also finished 116th place on Sept. 30 on the same course on Sept. 30th, when she finished more than 30 seconds slower (22:29.6).

Freshman Caroline Rupper's debut at Regionals saw her finish 150th with a time of 22:25.2 and classmate Carly Manchester's 182nd place finish saw her cross the finish line in 23:04.7.

Siobhan Stoll took 189th in a time of 23:13.3 and Ashley Riley rounded out the CU scoring group in 214th place in 23:57.2.

All seven Creighton women who competed today finished in a faster time than their performance on the same course six weeks earlier, improving by an average of 25 seconds.

Creighton took 30th in the race, which was won by Oklahoma State. Illinois' Olivia Howell (20:02.9) won the women's race by nine seconds over OSU's Natalie Cook in the field of 233 competitors.

Gonzalez Runs to 10K Record as Cross Country Ends Season at Regionals

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcos Gonzalez

Morgan Koca

Carly Manchester

Ryan Montera

Ashley Riley

Caroline Rupper

Henry Slagle

Siobhan Stoll

Tommy Ward

Jake Ziebarth