Saturday, October 29
Highland Park, Mass.
10:00 AM
Creighton University
at
BIG EAST Championships
Morgan Koca
Photo by: Brian Foley for Foley-Photograph
Cross Country Teams Move Up at BIG EAST Championships
10/29/2022 11:55:00 AM | Men's Cross Country / Track, Women's Cross Country / Track
Women's Results (PDF)Men's Results (PDF)PHOTOSPHOTOS PART 2MEN'S PHOTOS PART 2Photo GalleryPhoto Gallery 2Photo Gallery 3Photo Gallery 4
Men earn best finish since 2015 while women also move up a spot
ATTLEBORO, Mass. -- The Creighton men's cross country team earned its best finish at the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships Presented by JEEP since 2015 with a sixth place showing on Saturday morning at Mark Coogan Cross Country Course in Attleboro, Mass. The Bluejay women also moved up a spot from last season, taking eighth place.
"We made progress, especially on the guys side," said head coach Chris Gannon. "For a young team, we ran and competed well. Gained some great experience today in one of the best conferences in the nation. We have everyone returning next year from our top seven on both squads. We will take some positives from today and keep building."
Junior Marcos Gonzalez paced the Creighton men as he ran to 37th place after crossing the finish line in 25:00.. That time was nearly two minutes faster than his time at last year's BIG EAST Championship, when he took 55th place.
Sophomores Ryan Montera and Tommy Ward followed Gonzalez. Montera was in 56th place mid-race before finishing in 41st place with a time of 25:19. Ward clocked a time of 25:28, good for 47th overall.
Sophomore Henry Slagle finished in CU's top four for the first time as a Bluejay, taking 55th with a time of 25:53. That put him four seconds ahead of senior Michael Buckley and sophomore Jake Ziebarth, who took 56th and 57th place, respectively.
Butler's Barry Keane won the men's 8K race in a time of 23:15, besting runner-up Haftu Strintzos of Villanova by six seconds. The Butler team had its hopes of a third straight title dashed as the Bulldogs (75) finished behind champion Villanova (27), Providence (55) and Georgetown (68). DePaul (164) took fifth, while Creighton's 196 points edged out Xavier (210) for sixth.
The CU men, who had placed eighth in each of the previous four BIG EAST Championships, last finished sixth in 2015. The program's best finish in 10 years in the BIG EAST came in 2014, when the squad took fifth place.
Despite the absence of All-BIG EAST performer Danielle Hotalling, the Bluejay women took eighth of 11 teams, moving up a spot from last year's finish at the league meet.
Junior Morgan Koca paced CU for the fourth consecutive race as she placed 46th with a time of 22:19. That put her five places and 12 seconds in front of freshman Carly Manchester, who was making her BIG EAST Championships debut. Fellow freshman Caroline Rupper crossed the finish line in 23:15 to place 66th.
Rounding out CU's scorers were sophomore Siobhan Stoll in 70th place (23:29) and Anika Nettekoven in 79th after clocking 24:11.
Providence freshman Jane Buckley won the women's race in a time of 20:06, two seconds better than defending champion Maggie Donohue of Georgetown in the race of 96 competitors.
Georgetown won its third straight BIG EAST title with a team score of 29 to edge out host Providence's 40. The Hoyas are ranked 12th nationally.
The Bluejays will return to the course on Nov. 11 in Columbia, Mo., at the NCAA Regionals.
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"We made progress, especially on the guys side," said head coach Chris Gannon. "For a young team, we ran and competed well. Gained some great experience today in one of the best conferences in the nation. We have everyone returning next year from our top seven on both squads. We will take some positives from today and keep building."
Junior Marcos Gonzalez paced the Creighton men as he ran to 37th place after crossing the finish line in 25:00.. That time was nearly two minutes faster than his time at last year's BIG EAST Championship, when he took 55th place.
Sophomores Ryan Montera and Tommy Ward followed Gonzalez. Montera was in 56th place mid-race before finishing in 41st place with a time of 25:19. Ward clocked a time of 25:28, good for 47th overall.
Sophomore Henry Slagle finished in CU's top four for the first time as a Bluejay, taking 55th with a time of 25:53. That put him four seconds ahead of senior Michael Buckley and sophomore Jake Ziebarth, who took 56th and 57th place, respectively.
Butler's Barry Keane won the men's 8K race in a time of 23:15, besting runner-up Haftu Strintzos of Villanova by six seconds. The Butler team had its hopes of a third straight title dashed as the Bulldogs (75) finished behind champion Villanova (27), Providence (55) and Georgetown (68). DePaul (164) took fifth, while Creighton's 196 points edged out Xavier (210) for sixth.
The CU men, who had placed eighth in each of the previous four BIG EAST Championships, last finished sixth in 2015. The program's best finish in 10 years in the BIG EAST came in 2014, when the squad took fifth place.
Despite the absence of All-BIG EAST performer Danielle Hotalling, the Bluejay women took eighth of 11 teams, moving up a spot from last year's finish at the league meet.
Junior Morgan Koca paced CU for the fourth consecutive race as she placed 46th with a time of 22:19. That put her five places and 12 seconds in front of freshman Carly Manchester, who was making her BIG EAST Championships debut. Fellow freshman Caroline Rupper crossed the finish line in 23:15 to place 66th.
Rounding out CU's scorers were sophomore Siobhan Stoll in 70th place (23:29) and Anika Nettekoven in 79th after clocking 24:11.
Providence freshman Jane Buckley won the women's race in a time of 20:06, two seconds better than defending champion Maggie Donohue of Georgetown in the race of 96 competitors.
Georgetown won its third straight BIG EAST title with a team score of 29 to edge out host Providence's 40. The Hoyas are ranked 12th nationally.
The Bluejays will return to the course on Nov. 11 in Columbia, Mo., at the NCAA Regionals.
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