ones cross country and track and field athlete Sam Berlinghof ‘24 announced his commitment to Creighton University earlier this month, where he is eager to continue running as a Division I athlete.

“I’m really excited that I can move forward doing the thing that I love,” said Berlinghof. “I’m excited to be a part of this team that is on the rise since they got Coach Gannon six years ago. He’s really turned the program around and it’s becoming a really strong program.”

While a school’s athletics obviously influenced his commitment decision, Berlinghof also wanted to ensure he was getting a quality education as he continued running.

“I’m really looking forward to all the academic and athletic facilities that will be at my disposal,” said Berlinghof. “Most importantly, I’m going to college to get a degree and have a successful life, so the importance of academics as well as athletics made me want to choose this program.”

Division I athletics became more and more of a possibility for Berlinghof, who knew pretty early in high school that this was where he might find himself.

“I had a really successful campaign in sophomore year of track and I started to become pretty competitive on the state level,” said Berlinghof. “At that point, I was starting to fit in with guys who were going to Division I schools, and I knew that was probably where I could end up if I kept progressing.”

While Berlinghof found great success in cross country and track and field, running was not always his main focus when it came to sports.

“I knew I wanted to do cross country or baseball,” said Berlinghof. “Cross country fell in the fall and baseball fell in the spring, so I had to choose between them. I had a really successful freshman cross country year, so I decided to run track instead of doing baseball in the spring, and from then on I knew running was going to be my main focus.”

While Berlinghof played baseball up until freshman year, he started running a few years prior and noticed his skills.

“I first started running in 5th grade when my mom created the cross country program at my middle school,” said Berlinghof. “I was kind of put into it because she was the coach and liked to run and I discovered that I enjoyed running and was pretty talented at it too.”

Throughout his running career, Berlinghof’s friends and teammates helped him progress mentally and physically.

“Sophomore year, I was really close with one of the seniors on the team, Alan Menninger, who really helped push me,” said Berlinghof.

“I’ve also been running together with one of my closest friends Will Kozlowski, and it’s a good motivator for us to keep pushing each other and seeing what we can do.”

Berlinghof has progressed into a role model for the team over his four years, and his teammates in his grade noticed this development.