Women Eighth; Men 11th at Greeno/Dirksen Invite

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The Creighton women's cross country team placed eighth and the men took 11th at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational on Saturday morning at Mahoney Golf Course in Lincoln, Neb.

Senior Danielle Hotalling led Creighton with a ninth place finish as she covered the 5K course in 17:36.5. Hotalling, who took fifth at the same event in 2021 before redshirting last season, has now been CU's top finisher in all 23 cross country races of her collegiate career.

Morgan Koca placed 39th with a time of 18:16.4, a 35-second improvement over last season's time on the same course, and the senior's fastest 5K time as a Bluejay.

Freshman Taylor Rorick took 56th in her collegiate debut with a time of 18:33.3, good for a spot on the program's top 25 best list.

Sophomore Carly Manchester celebrated her birthday with a 60th place showing after a time of 18:37.1.

Rounding out CU's scoring contingent was sophomore Molly Rogers, who took 70th in 18;44.5. That marked a huge improvement over last year's 164th place showing in 20:49.5 at the same meet.

"I thought our ladies competed well today," said Creighton head coach Chris Gannon. "A bit of a learning experience for the three freshmen in their first college race. We did a good job of closing over the last 1K and a solid result for Danielle, in the top 10 of a good field."

The women's race featured 28 teams and 311 participants, with a pair of Winona State harriers leading the way. Lindsay Cunningham (16:07.2) won the race by 48 seconds over teammate Kaylee Beyer (16:55.2). Nebraska's Berlyn Schutz finished third in a time of 17:10.7. Creighton's eighth place finish with 218 points put it one spot better than Omaha (267) in the team standings. Winona State's 60 points paced the competition, just ahead of Iowa State (77).

Brian Hiltebrand led the Bluejay men with a 49th place finish in a time of 25:24.4. The sophomore's time was more than 100 seconds faster than his performance at last year's Greeno/Dirksen Invite, when he finished in 27:07.5.

Hiltebrand was 12 seconds ahead of classmate Eli Moore, who took 64th (25:36.4). Moore finished in 26:59.0 last year at the same race.

Senior Michael Buckley completed the 8K course in 25:53.4, good for 81st place. Not far behind Buckley was sophomore Cole Haith in 94th place after he crossed the finish line in 26:01.7. Both men finished more than 30 seconds ahead of their time from last season.

Rounding out the Bluejay contingent was freshman Blair Ptacek, who took 121st overall in 26:24.3 in his CU debut.

"It was a good race for the five guys who raced today," said Gannon. "They found good spots in the field to make moves and build for what's ahead."

Each of CU's top six men's finishers from the season-opening Hawkeye Invitational were held out of the competition. "I feel good about the decision practice some load management on the men's side," said Gannon. "We got a great workout in with the group that didn't race and solid experience for those that did."

Drake won the 31-team men's race with 58 points, edging Kansas (59) by one point. Colby CC's Kgadi Monyebodi won the men's race, which featured 281 competitors, with a time of 23:31.66. That gave him a six-second win over St. Mary's (Kan.) standout Emad Bashir-Mohammed (23:37.76).

Both Bluejay teams are back in action on Sept. 29 at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Mo.

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Players Mentioned

Michael Buckley

Cole Haith

Brian Hiltebrand

Danielle Hotalling

Morgan Koca

Carly Manchester

Eli Moore

Blair Ptacek

Molly Rogers

Taylor Rorick