Murray Wins as Cross Country Teams Sweep Titles at Briar Cliff Invite

Saturday, October 3

South Sioux City, Neb.

8:30 AM

Creighton University

Briar Cliff Invite

STATS

Tatum Neilson

Photo by: Prep Running Nerd

Murray Wins as Cross Country Teams Sweep Titles at Briar Cliff Invite

10/3/2026 10:56:00 AM | Men's Cross Country / Track, Women's Cross Country / Track

Womn's Results Men's Results

By: Rob Anderson

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. -- Tommy Murray brought home the individual title and both the Creighton men's and women's cross country programs won team titles at the Briar Cliff Invite in South Sioux City, Neb., on Saturday morning. The races were Creighton's first competitions in nearly a month after several adjustments were made to the schedule due to the weather in recent weeks.

Murray picked up his first collegiate individual title, traversing the Freedom Park course in 25:28.7 to top a field of 91 harriers. The senior from Port Byron, Ill., won the race by nearly six seconds, besting sophomore teammate Andrew Sauer (25:34.5) who brought home runner-up laurels with his second straight top-10 finish. Freshman A.J. Abeyta made his college debut with a third-place finish in 25:58.5 to round out CU's first 1-2-3 finish since at least 2003.

Junior Lucas Bossinger placed 14th place in 26:49.2, just ahead of senior Dominic Ricci (26:56.8) and junior Sam Berlinghof (27:03.2) in 16th and 17th place.

Creighton won the men's team title with 36 points, defeating South Dakota State (48) and six other competitors. The Bluejay women also were champions with 47 points, outpacing South Dakota State (71) and Concordia (Neb.) (75) in the nine-team field to win its first event since the Platte River Rumble "Collegiate" last October.

Coming off a win at the Platte River Rumble, Taylor Rorick continued the strong start to her senior campaign as she finished second in 22:56.8. Rorick's sixth career top-10 finish was only behind Bellevue's Grace Steinmetz (21:50.5) in the field of 85 runners.

Freshman Tatum Neilson was fourth in 23:23.5 and sophomore Sophia Redler made her 2026 debut with a ninth-place showing in 23:53.2. It was Redler's first career top-10 finish and a significant improvement over her time of 23:26.43 when she placed 29th in the same race a year ago.

Sophia Valentine (24:14.0) and Emma Vecchio (24:23.2) placed 15th and 17th, respectively to finish just ahead of three other teammates that posted top-25 finishes.

The Bluejays are back in action on Oct. 16 when they co-host the Platte River Rumble "Collegiate" at Olsson Cross Country Course in Ashland, Neb.