Track Teams Close Spring at BIG EAST Indoor Championships

CHICAGO, Ill. -- Creighton Track had point-scoring relays on both the men's and women's side in its second trip to the BIG EAST Indoor Track Championships, Presented by JEEP, on Friday and Saturday.

"Proud of what we were able to accomplish this weekend," said head coach Chris Gannon. "Such big improvements over where we were even just a year ago, sometimes that's tough to measure in the BIG EAST because there is so much talent."

Creighton was led by its men's distance medley relay team on Friday, which saw Evan Kraus, Logan Piper, Ryan Hendrickson and Jake Ziebarth placed fourth in a time of 9:48.89. The result was more than 15 seconds better its time of 10:04.4 from a year featuring three of the same relay members.

Closing out the meet was the team Hendrickson, Kraus, Ziebarth and anchor Matthew Lindgren who placed fifth in the 4x800 relay with a 7:31.29 clocking, a time that would have been good for second place at the same meet a year ago.

CU's women's 4x800 meter relay placed sixth as Anika Nettekoven, Reyna Heisserer, Carly Manchester and Alexis Huddin rounded the track in 8:53.96, a full 13 seconds faster than last year when the team finished eighth in 9:06.83.

The same quartet took eighth in the distance medley relay when Nettekoven, Huddin, Manchester and Heisserer completed the race measuring 4,000 meters in 11:52.17. That performance was 21 seconds better than a year ago in the event at the BIG EAST Championships with a grouping that also included Nettekoven and Manchester.

Creighton also had six individual competitors in the meet.

Junior Noah Jodon ran a 4:10.43 mile on Friday to qualify for the Saturday's final, where he placed eighth in a time of 4:19.04. Oliver Annus was 19^th in the mile on Friday with a time of 4:18.29 but did not advance to the final.

Senior Eli Moore placed 13^th in the 3,000 with a time of 8:25.18, which was 17 seconds faster than his previous best time this spring. Freshman Kyle Nelson clocked a time of 1:55.06 in the 800 to take 13^th place. Classmate Gabe Hamilton ran in the 400 meters. His time of 50.60 left him in 22^nd place.

On the women's side, junior Kaylee Tobaben (17:49.17) and senior Katherine Soule (17:55.96) finished 12^th and 13^th, respectively, in the 5,000 meters.

"Noah made the final in the men's mile and placed in a very tactical race," noted Gannon. "All four relays ran faster than they did a year ago. The ladies 4x8 team secured its first BIG EAST Track medal in program history, with their sixth place finish. Our other athletes who competed all set indoor PRs. Coach (Matthew) Fayers has done an incredible job building up the mid-distance group."

The Creighton men finished eighth in the standings, one point ahead of Xavier. Connecticut ran away with the team title with 194 points, far outdistancing DePaul's 113 points.

The Bluejay women placed 10^th, just five behind Xavier. Connecticut also dominated the women's standings with 169 points to defeat DePaul by 36 points.

The Huskies now own 14 titles for the men and seven for the women, and have won the last five indoor team titles on both the men's and women's side.

Creighton begins its outdoor track season on March 28 at the Central Nebraska Challenge in Kearney, Neb.

"We need to find a good balance of a little rest and getting healthy while still prepping for outdoor," added Gannon.

Track Teams Close Spring at BIG EAST Indoor Championships

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Players Mentioned

Oliver Annus

Reyna Heisserer

Ryan Hendrickson

Alexis Huddin

Noah Jodon

Evan Kraus

Matthew Lindgren

Carly Manchester

Eli Moore

Kyle Nelson

Anika Nettekoven

Logan Piper

Katherine Soule

Kaylee Tobaben

Jake Ziebarth