Saturday, June 9
Eugene, OR
3:30 PM
University of Washington
vs
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Neale Takes Fifth In 5k In Final Run As A Dawg
June 09, 2018 | Track & Field
EUGENE, Ore. – Amy-Eloise Neale delivered one more great race to bring her five years as a Husky to a close in style today at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Neale, the Snohomish, Wash. product who came to Washington after unprecedented high school dominance, earned her seventh All-America honor today with a fifth-place finish in the 5,000-meters.
The NCAA cross country runner-up back in the fall, Neale proved herself among the best distance runners in the country once again today, despite hoping for an even higher finish today. Neale spent most of the race in the middle of the pack on the rail, and as the race got later, room to move up never seemed to present itself. When the pace finally did go with a thousand meters remaining, Neale had to make up ground on the leaders.
She went into the final lap in about 10th-place but charging, and passed five more runners with the third-fastest final 400-meters in the field, as she split a 66.78-second last lap to finish in 15:44.41.
"Going into it, I was prepared for anything. I was prepared for it to go out slow since it was hailing during our warm-up, but i was also prepared for it to go out at 15:15 pace. So I was keeping my options open and was mentally prepared for anything. But I got stuck on the rail a little bit too long and struggled to get out, which was unfortunate. So over that last mile when the pace really started picking up, I just wasn't quite close enough to respond properly. I was hoping to give it a shot to win, so I'm a little disappointed in that respect, but it was great to have a last opportunity to represent Washington and it's always fun to run here at Hayward Field.
Neale earned First Team All-America honors with the finish. She ends her storied Husky career with two cross country All-America honors, two First Team All-America honors outdoors, one Second Team All-America honor outdoors, and two Second Team All-America honors indoors, for a total of seven. Today's fifth-place finish was her best individual NCAA track finish.
Neale's four team points meant the women's team tied for 44th overall while the men tied for 49th with the same point total, from Andrew Gardner's fifth-place steeplechase finish yesterday.
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Day 4 of 4 | June 9, 2018
Eugene, Ore. | Hayward Field
Women's Results
5,000m, Final: 5. Amy-Eloise Neale, 15:44.41 (All-America First Team)
The NCAA cross country runner-up back in the fall, Neale proved herself among the best distance runners in the country once again today, despite hoping for an even higher finish today. Neale spent most of the race in the middle of the pack on the rail, and as the race got later, room to move up never seemed to present itself. When the pace finally did go with a thousand meters remaining, Neale had to make up ground on the leaders.
She went into the final lap in about 10th-place but charging, and passed five more runners with the third-fastest final 400-meters in the field, as she split a 66.78-second last lap to finish in 15:44.41.
"Going into it, I was prepared for anything. I was prepared for it to go out slow since it was hailing during our warm-up, but i was also prepared for it to go out at 15:15 pace. So I was keeping my options open and was mentally prepared for anything. But I got stuck on the rail a little bit too long and struggled to get out, which was unfortunate. So over that last mile when the pace really started picking up, I just wasn't quite close enough to respond properly. I was hoping to give it a shot to win, so I'm a little disappointed in that respect, but it was great to have a last opportunity to represent Washington and it's always fun to run here at Hayward Field.
Neale earned First Team All-America honors with the finish. She ends her storied Husky career with two cross country All-America honors, two First Team All-America honors outdoors, one Second Team All-America honor outdoors, and two Second Team All-America honors indoors, for a total of seven. Today's fifth-place finish was her best individual NCAA track finish.
Neale's four team points meant the women's team tied for 44th overall while the men tied for 49th with the same point total, from Andrew Gardner's fifth-place steeplechase finish yesterday.
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Day 4 of 4 | June 9, 2018
Eugene, Ore. | Hayward Field
Women's Results
5,000m, Final: 5. Amy-Eloise Neale, 15:44.41 (All-America First Team)
Players Mentioned
Dist
/ Track & Field
Dist
/ Track & FieldRaising the Bar | Hana & Amanda Moll
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Nathan Green | 2025 NCAA 1500m Champion
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