Lagat runs 5000m season best in Berlin Sunday, plus the weekend roundup...

BERLIN, Germany--Washington State University hall of famer Bernard Lagat (left/photo by Paul Merca) ran a season best time in the 5000 meters Sunday at the ISTAF meeting at the Olympiastadion.

The 39-year old veteran ran 13:06.68 to easily eclipse his season best of 13:27.08 in finishing second to long time rival Augustine Choge of Kenya, who ran 13:06.12.

In quotes provided by the meet organizers, he said, "My tactic that I always go is to accelerate within the race to attack the leaders from behind and step on the gas right into the last lap. The pace was great for me and the pacemakers did their job well."

Lagat will next run for the Americas squad in the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech, Morocco in two weeks.

Results from the ISTAF meet are available here.

Saturday, Washington State University seniors Abby Regan and Ruby Roberts led the Cougars to a sweep of the women's 4k race at the season-opening Clash of the Inland Northwest cross country meet at the Mead HS athletic complex.

Regan won the race in 13:35 with Roberts one second back, followed by Sarah Reiter of Eastern Washington in 13:52, Sierra Speiker of Idaho in 14:00, and Eastern's Catie Arrigoni, competing unattached in 14:05.

Amelia Evans was Gonzaga's top runner across the line in sixth in a time of 14:11.

In the men's 6k competition, Willie Milam of Gonzaga, competing unattached, was the winner in a time of 18:08, followed by the Zags' Robert Walgren (18:14) and Troy Fraley (18:15).

Richard Shroy (18:15) and Forrest Shaffer (18:16) rounded out the top five.

Vince Hamilton was Eastern Washington's top finisher in 11th in 18:23.

In the women's dual meet team scores,  WSU defeated Eastern Washington 19-38, defeated Gonzaga 18-44, and defeated Idaho 18-42.  Gonzaga fell to Eastern 25-32, and to Idaho 18-44. Eastern beat Idaho 24-31.

The men's scoring saw Gonzaga beat Eastern 17-46, and Idaho 19-41, while losing to WSU 25-35.  The Cougs swept Eastern 15-49 and Idaho by a perfect 15-50.  Idaho beat Eastern 20-42.

The meet marked the debut of WSU coach Wayne Phipps, who assessed his new squad's performance by saying, “It was a nice controlled effort throughout the race. Overall, an excellent first race for both teams and I’m very excited or the rest of the season."

Gonzaga will run on September 13th at the WCC Preview meet in Sunnyvale, California. Washington State's next meet is September 20th at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle, while Eastern runs on September 20th at the Portland State Invite in Portland.

Complete results and scoring from the Clash of the Inland Northwest meet are available here.

In Valence, France, University of Washington alum Katie Mackey finished third in the 1500 at Saturday's DecaNation meet as a member of Team USA.

Mackey ran 4:19.03 as Elena Korobkina of Russia won in 4:18.07.

Mackey will run in two weeks as part of the Americas squad in the IAAF Continental Cup in Morocco.

Team USA won the DecaNation meet with a score of 114 points, two better than host France, with Russia third with 108.

Complete results of the DecaNation meet are available here.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of Gonzaga University and Washington State University contributed to this report.