Washington's Herberg Runs Out To Huge Lead And Eludes Chasers To Win Pac-12 Women's Race; Colorado Veteran Herrera Breaks Stanford Freshman Hicks In Final 2K; Cardinal Sweeps And Top Teams Make Case For NCAA Inclusion

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. – Haley Herberg said she was as surprised as anyone to jump out to a 25-30 second lead over the women's field early in the Pac-12 Conference championship race. 

Herberg was aggressive from the gun, built a huge lead and withstood a late charge from pre-race favorite Ella Donaghu of Stanford to win the individual title Friday at Chambers Bay Regional Park in 19:02.5 for 6 kilometers.

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"Our plan was to take it out aggressive from the start," Herberg said. "In that aspect it definitely went to plan, but I expected to have more company."

Herberg placed 25th in the meet in 2019 but showed something of her fitness in December when she ran 15:40.86 at the Sound Running Track Meet in California. 

Two weeks ago at the Battle Born Collegiate XC Challenge in Las Vegas, Herberg finished 20th. 

On Friday, she played her cards just right and became the first Husky since 2016 to win the conference title, when Amy-Eloise Neale won. She got a big lead, forced Stanford's Donaghu and freshman Zofia Dudek to try and chase her on the third 2-kilometer loop, and has enough energy at the end to finish strong. 

Donaghu erased a 20-second deficit on the final loop but after drawing even with 400 meters left, found that she did not have enough energy to roll past. 

"That was a ballsy move, and it worked," Donaghu said. "Hat's off to (Herberg). That was an amazing race. If the plan was to confuse us, it did. 

"A big tactical mistake on my part and my teammate Zofia's part for not going after it sooner. We just let way too big a gap open up."

Early March felt a bit like early November along the shores of Puget Sound on Friday as the Pac-12 Conference staged its conference cross country championships for the first time since November of 2019. 

That time, Donaghu finished second to her own teammate, Fiona O'Keeffe.

Blustery wind off the sound chilled an otherwise cloudy day, where a perfectly manicured course produced fast times for the Pac-12's distance runners as fans were forced to watch from a distance due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Donaghu, Dudek and Julia Heymach finished 2-3-4 to lead the Cardinal women to a team victory with 30 points. Colorado was second with 50, Washington was third with 85 and Oregon State was fourth – highest in program history – with 100. Oregon, with just four finishers, did not register a team score for the first time at conference.

In the men's race, Colorado's Eduardo "Lalo" Hererra proved to be the class of the field as some of the conference's top distance talent skipped the meet to focus on NCAA Indoors. 

Herrera's biggest challenge came from Stanford freshman Charles Hicks, who has quickly established himself as an elite college performer. 

Herrera shook Hicks off with a series of surges on the fourth and final loop and finished more than 10 seconds clear, in 22:30.9. 

"I'm shooting for the one in 10 days," Hererra said. "I think it's possible, but there's going to be a lot of great competition up there, so I'm excited to race."

Oregon's Jackson Mestler, who has taken the leadership role for the cross country team as 2019 runner-up Cooper Teare and teamamtes Cole Hocker and Charlie Hunter pursue glory at the NCAA Indoor Championship, finished third. 

With Hicks and fellow freshman Cole Sprout taking second and fourth, and senior Alek Parsons fifth, Stanford completed its first sweep since 2010 with 28 poitnts. Colorado scored 60 points and Washington, led by Isaac Green in seventh, was third with 66. 

Oregon was fourth with 139 points and awaits the selection committee's decision about whether it will qualify for nationals.