Herberg Takes Fifth, Rainsberger Advances At NCAAs
NCAA Outdoor Championships
June 9-12 | Eugene, Ore. | Hayward Field
Broadcast Info and Streaming Links
Men Start Lists | Women Start Lists | Heptathlon Start Lists
Schedule of Husky Athletes at NCAAs (all times Pacific)
Friday, June 11
Men's Events (plus Women's Heptathlon)
12:00 pm – Heptathlon 100m Hurdles – Ida Eikeng, Lyndsey Lopes
1:00 pm – Heptathlon High Jump – Ida Eikeng, Lyndsey Lopes
3:00 pm – Heptathlon Shot Put – Ida Eikeng, Lyndsey Lopes
4:35 pm – Discus – Elijah Mason
5:11 pm – 1500m Final – Sam Tanner
6:55 pm – 5000m Final – Isaac Green
6:43 pm – Heptathlon 200m – Ida Eikeng, Lyndsey Lopes
Saturday, June 12
Women's Events
11:00 am – Heptathlon Long Jump – Ida Eikeng, Lyndsey Lopes
12:15 pm – Heptathlon Javelin – Ida Eikeng, Lyndsey Lopes
3:24 pm – 3000m Steeplechase Final – Katie Rainsberger
4:43 pm – Heptathlon 800m – Ida Eikeng, Lyndsey Lopes
4:55 pm – 5000m Final – Haley Herberg
EUGENE, Ore. – Sophomore Haley Herberg's breakthrough 2021 continued with another huge first, her first All-America honor. Herberg, the Pac-12 Cross Country Champion, fought to a fifth-place finish in the 10,000-meters final tonight at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field. Herberg scored the first four points of the meet for the Huskies on the first day of women's competition.
Along with Herberg's outstanding run, senior Katie Rainsberger easily moved through to the finals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, breaking her own school record in the process.
In the first track final of the women's competition, Herberg was racing the 10k for just the third time in her career, all coming within the past month. The field set a solid pace from the start and Herberg established herself around fifth-place. As the laps ticked down, Herberg made a few moves to keep herself up front. Two runners eventually broke away, with Herberg then leading a chase pack of five for several more laps. In the end, a final sprint to the finish saw Herberg cross in fifth-place in 32:35.59, just one second out of third.
Herberg earned First Team All-America honors with the finish. It's the second straight outdoor meet with a Husky going top-five in the 10k, as Izzi Batt-Doyle finished third in 2019. Her time was a 15-second PR, improving on her own No. 2 time in school history, and it also broke her into the Pac-12 conference all-time top-10, at No. 9.
In the first of two steeplechase semifinal heats, Rainsberger confidently ran up front throughout, trading leads with Joyce Kimeli of Auburn. With the top five automatically moving on, Rainsberger looked smooth and was part of a group of three that eventually opened up a gap. She came through just behind Kimeli in second-place to move on. After setting the school record for the first time at the Pac-12 Championships, Rainsberger took two more seconds off that today with her time of 9:36.71. That ranks her No. 9 in NCAA history.
Rainsberger will wrap her decorated career in the steeplechase final on Saturday at 3:24 p.m. Pacific time. She will be aiming for a 13th All-America honor.
It wasn't the dream ending that senior Darhian Mills was hoping for, but she will remember setting a new standard for Husky 400m hurdlers. The school record-holder struggled in today's semifinal run, finishing eighth in her semifinal heat in 1:02.30, and earned honorable mention All-America, adding to her First Team honor from 2019 and another honorable mention from 2017 on the 4x400m relay. Mills leaves atop the UW recordbooks at 57.02 seconds.
Sophomore Madison Heisterman raced well in her first NCAA Outdoor Championships, but couldn't quite punch a finals ticket. In the second of the two semis, the pace went out slow to start, with Heisterman staying connected with the lead pack the whole way. Over the finishing kick, Heisterman couldn't quite make enough passes, and she finished seventh out of 12, running 4:15.58, just a second off her PR from West Prelims. That would be 19th overall as the first heat went quicker, and Heisterman earned All-America honorable mention.
Friday, the women's heptathlon starts things at 12 noon for Lyndsey Lopes and Ida Eikeng. The men will then have a trio of finalists with Elijah Mason in the discus, Sam Tanner in the 1,500m, and Isaac Green in the 5,000m.
Washington Track & Field
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Eugene, Ore. | Hayward Field
June 10, 2021 | Day 2 of 4
Women's 1500m Semifinal
Heat 2 of 2
7. Madison Heisterman, 4:15.58 (All-America Honorable Mention)
Women's 10,000m Final
5. Haley Herberg, 32:35.59 (All-America First Team)
Women's 3,000m Steeplechase Semifinal
Heat 1 of 2
2. Katie Rainsberger, 9:36.71 (Advances to Final)
Women's 400m Hurdles Semifinal
Heat 1 of 3
8. Darhian Mills, 1:02.30 (All-America Honorable Mention)