Haley Herberg stuns Pac-12 women's field to take cross country crown...

UNIVERSITY PLACE--Who would have thought?

The number of people outside the inner circle of the University of Washington women's cross country team that thought that Haley Herberg (Howard Lao photo) would win the Pac-12 cross country championship, wouldn't use all fingers of both hands.

But that's exactly what she did.

Herberg stole a page out of the Tom Byers book of rabbiting, and led from gun to tape to win the Pac-12 cross country championship at Chambers Creek Park south of Tacoma Friday morning.

Going into the race, all eyes were on the Stanford duo of Ella Donaghu and Zofia Dudek, who went 1-3 at the highly competitive Florida State meet on February 1st, and 1-2 at the Battle Born Collegiate Classic in Las Vegas on February 19th, a race in which Herberg only finished 20th.

As the field finished the first 2k of the 6k race, Herberg opened up a 22 second lead on the field. On the second lap, the field managed to whittle it down to 19 seconds.

All during the race, the question came up from the few observers when were Donaghu and Dudek going to catch her.

With about 500 meters to go, Donaghu actually pulled up alongside the California native. However, that woke Herberg up, as she somehow found another gear and pulled away from the 2019 Pac-12 runner-up to win by six seconds 19:03 to 19:09.

Dudek, the Stanford freshman from Michigan and 2019 Foot Locker champ, hung on for third in 19:15, with her Cardinal teammate Julia Heymach fourth in 19:22.

After the race, the Pac-12 champion said, "The plan was to take it out aggressive, and run aggressive the whole way."

"In the first 400 meters, I was wondering where everyone was, but I didn't want to look back. I was expecting more company."

When asked about Donaghu closing over the last 200 meters, she said that she was aware it was a long straightaway, but she knew the point on the course where to go with the arms.

For the Huskies, freshman Naomi Smith was the second runner across the line in 14th at 20:00, followed by Madison Heisterman in 21st at 20:11. 

Andrea Markezich was 23rd in 20:12, and Kelly Makin was the final scorer in 27th in 20:20.

Washington State was led by Erin Mullins in 13th at 19:57, followed by Neema Kimtai in 20th at 20:10. 

Zorana Grujic was 46th in 20:59, followed by her sister Jelena in 52nd at 21:09, and Alaina Stone Boggs in 61st at 21:25.

Stanford, the nation's number 5 team, put five in the top 12 to win yet another team title with 30 points, followed on the podium by number 6 Colorado's 50, and number 12 Washington's 85.

Washington State finished fifth with 164 points.

Former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell finished seventh overall for Oregon State in a time of 19:40, helping the Beavers to a fourth place finish.

In the men's 8k championship race, a group of 30 went through the first 2k together, but that grouping only lasted past the end of the first lap.

Shortly after the start of the second lap, Colorado All-American Eduardo "Lalo" Hererra slowly but surely opened up a gap, and burst away from Stanford's Charles Hicks to win in a time of 22:31, with Hicks finishing in 22:42.

Stanford, the nation's fourth ranked team, placed all five of its scorers inside the top ten to win going away with a final team score of 28 points.

Number nine Colorado finished second with 60 points, followed by the host and number eight ranked Huskies with 66 points.

The Huskies, who ran without NCAA indoor qualifier Sam Tanner and 2018 Pac-12 runner-up Talon Hull, were led by Isaac Green in seventh in 23:01. Luke Houser was tenth in 23:05, followed by Leo Daschbach in 12th at 23:09.

2018 All-American Tibebu Proctor was 17th in 23:25, and Joe Waskom finished 20th in 23:33.

Washington State was sixth with 171 points, led by Zach Stallings in 18th at 23:31. Matthew Watkins was 27th in 23:40, followed by Jacob Nicholson in 46th at 24:47.

Zak Kindl in 47th at 24:48, and Cooper Cortinas was 52nd in 25:06.

Complete results of the Pac-12 cross country championships are available here.

UW GRAD AMY-ELOISE MARKOVC WINS EUROPEAN INDOOR 3000M TITLE...

In Torun, Poland, Amy-Eloise Markovc (left/photo courtesy British Athletics) who in 2016 was the last individual Husky to win the Pac-12 cross country championship, won the 3000 meters Friday night at the European Athletics indoor championships.

With two laps remaining, the Glacier Peak HS & Washington grad, along with her British teammates Verity Ockenden and Amelia Quick, were all in medal contention before the Netherlands' Maureen Koster fell down.

Markovc and Ockenden were together coming off the final turn, but the Washington alum found an extra gear and took home the win in a personal best 8:46.43.

France's Alice Finot caught Ockenden near the finish to take second in 8:46.54 to 8:46.60.

After the race, Markovc said: “It’s unbelievable! That was the goal coming into it and I wanted to keep that winning mentality. It was definitely a bit nerve-racking and I’m just really pleased that I ran confidently, stayed calm and trusted myself when I went to make a move.

“Last year, I didn’t compete as well as I wanted to and along the way I think there was a little bit of self-doubt. I’ve been really focused the last few races and I’ve just been really confident. Knowing that I was ready, trusting myself and trusting my instincts and having that positive self-talk throughout the race paid off because the last few weeks, things have really turned around for me and now I’ve crossed the line with the Union Jack around my shoulders, so that’s incredible."

In preliminary races, both former WSU volunteer coach Liga Velvere of Latvia, and Marta Pen Freitas of Portugal and the Seattle based Brooks Beasts, were eliminated.

Velvere finished fourth in her heat of the women's 800 in 2:06.26. Pen Freitas was fourth in her heat of the women's 1500, running 4:12.96.

Washington alum Jack Rowe runs in the first of three heats of the men's 3000 at 11:25 am local time (2:25 am in Seattle) Saturday morning.

The home page to the European Championships which includes streaming and live results is available here.

NOTE: The University of Washington sports information office, the Pac-12 Conference, British Athletics, and European Athletics contributed to this report.

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