Oregon Senior Breaks Meet Record With 32:38.73 In Women's 10,000

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photo Kirby Lee/Image of Sport

Carmela Cardama Baez took over the women's 10,000 meters final with five laps to go and crushed the Pac-12 Outdoor Championships record by 32 seconds Friday night at USC. 

It was a fast pace set by Washington's Haley Herberg that drove the middle of the race and produced some of the fastest times in conference history as the top three went well under the meet record. 

But at the end it was the Ducks' Cardama Baez, trimming 77-second laps down to 75 and finally a 73 to close the race and clock 32:38.73. She moved to No. 2 on Oregon's all-time list behind Jordan Hasay and improved to third on the NCAA's current list for 2021. The meet record of 33:10.84 belonged to Stanford's Vanessa Fraser. 

Colorado's Abby Nichols charged late and closed in 67 to take second in 32:49.87 and was also under the old meet record. Her time is No. 4 in Colorado history. 

Herberg, third in 32:51.96, moved to No. 2 in Washington history. 

Oregon State's Batya Beard, in sixth with 33:25.86, broke the Beavers' school record by more than two minutes. 

After the first day of competition, the Washington men (39) had a 25-point lead in the team standings. Arizona State and Oregon both had 18 points on the women's side. 

Washington put three men in the top six of the 10,000 meters for 14 points. Stanford freshman Charles Hicks won the conference title in 28:39.46 and Colorado sixth-year senior John Dressel was second in 28:42.17. 

The Huskies also pulled 18 points out of the men's javelin, going 2-3-5 with three throwers over 200 feet. 

Arizona State's Carlan Naisant (226-6/69.04m) and Alizee Minard (181-5/55.31m) swept the javelin titles and became the first Sun Devils to win conference titles in the event. 

Cal's Camryn Rogers defended her hammer title with 236-11 (72.22m) and teammate Anna Purchase took fourth. 

USC's Nathan Bultman, who fouled all three of his attempts at the 2019 meet, put the Trojans on the board with a win in the hammer (239-10/73.12m).  His freshman teammate Trey Knight was fifth.