Cross Country Races To Strong Start at Hawkeye Invitational

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The Creighton men's and women's cross country teams opened their 2021 seasons on Friday in Iowa City at the Hawkeye Invitational, with the men placing third and the women eighth.

John Quigley led the Creighton team with a sixth-place finish in a field of 84 runners, crossing the tape in 18:48.6 on the 6K course.

Jack Larsen (19th; 19:14.5) and Marcos Gonzalez (21st; 19:17.6) ran roughly 30 seconds behind Quigley to finish in the top-25 and Danny Bohnemann (30th; 19:31.4) and Aidan King (31st; 19:33.1) ran together to finish less than two seconds apart to round out CU's scoring.

Henry Slagle made his Bluejay debut in 41st place with a time of 19:48.0, while veterans Boston Small (52nd; 20:06.4); Michael Buckley (58th; 20.23.4) and Bryce Shirley (64th; 20:40.8) were not far behind. Rounding out the CU team was Eli Vedral, who took 66th with a clocking of 21:18.7.

Host Iowa won the men's race with 35 points, far ahead of UIC (104) and Creighton (107). Iowa Central's Kelvin Bungei (18:21.4) edged Iowa's Nick Trattner by 0.7 seconds to win the individual title.

The Bluejay men donned special jerseys with a gold Creighton logo to bring awareness to Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.

On the women's side, Danielle Hotalling was Creighton's top performer as she placed 14th with a 4K time of 14:26.6. The senior has now led Creighton in all 15 meets of her career.

Hotalling's classmate, Marguerite Hendrickson, finished in 43rd place after a clocking of 15:00.9. Freshman Abby Parker made her Creighton debut a memorable one, as she took 58th with a time of 15:14.7.

Sophomores Caroline Colburn (63rd; 15:20.5) and Morgan Koca (65th; 15:23.5) wrapped up CU's scoring five, finishing just before junior Ashley Riley (73rd; 15:34.0).

The remainder of the Creighton line-up included Kate Cox (103rd; 16:07.6), Liz Kettler (107th; 16:17.7), Jaedan Bunda (111th; 16:20.8), Caroline Jachino (114th; 16:32.5) and Jessica Barich (119th; 16:50.4).

The women's race included 11 teams and 121 participants at Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City. Iowa State won the women's race with a team score of 33, well ahead of runner-up Northwestern's 60. Rachel McCardell from Northwestern crossed the tape first with a time of 13:43.0 to beat Janette Schraft of Iowa State by more than eight seconds.

Creighton is back in action on Sept. 18 at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invite in Lincoln, Neb.

WOMEN • 4 Kilometers (2.49 Miles)

14 Danielle Hotalling 14:26.6

43 Marguerite Hendrickson 15:00.9

58 Abby Parker 15:14.7

63 Caroline Colburn 15:20.5

65 Morgan Koca 15:23.5

73 Ashley Riley 15:34.0

103 Kate Cox 16:07.6

107Elizabeth Kettler 16:17.7

111 Jaedan Bunda 16:20.8

114 Caroline Jachino 16:32.5

119 Jessica Barich 16:50.4