Shelby Houlihan Leads Five Bowerman Track Club Runners In Top-Seven at USATF Cross Country Championships

By Adam Kopet for DyeStat

The senior women’s 10-kilometer race at the USATF Cross Country Championships brought together a stellar field of many of the top runners in the country at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla. Four American record holders toed the start line, including Shannon Rowbury (1,500 meters), Courtney Frerichs (3,000-meter steeplechase), Shelby Houlihan (5,000 meters) and Molly Huddle (10,000 meters, half marathon and other road distances).

The race served as the qualifier for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships to be held March 30 in Aarhus, Denmark. The U.S. team will be made up of the top six athletes who agree to go.

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Houlihan flashed her speed late and won the first race she had ever contested longer than 6K. She had not run in a cross country race since the 2014 NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships when she was at Arizona State. 

“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Houlihan told USATF.TV after the race. “I’m happy to come away with the win.”

It was Huddle who took the early lead and kept the early pace honest. 

As the field moved through the first two kilometers a lead pack started to form, led by Huddle and Aliphine Tuliamuk. There was also a strong presence of Bowerman Track Club (BTC) red. In addition to Houlihan stalking the leaders, Marielle Hall, Amy Cragg and Karissa Schweizer were right there. However, Frerichs and Rowbury were already looking at a big gap, sitting back in 12th and 14th, respectively.

At two miles, the lead pack stood at 10 runners, including Rachel Schneider, Kellyn Taylor, Sarah Pagano and Elaina Tabb. However, it would only take another couple kilometers for those four to drop back.

By 6K, which the leaders reached in 19:55, the pack dropped to six runners. Huddle continued to lead with Tuliamuk and the four BTC runners. 

At 22 minutes, Schweizer began to fall off the back, cutting the lead pack to five. Cragg was the next victim of the pace as she started to see daylight between her and the runners ahead of her.

Going into the 8-kilometer mark (26:31), Tuliamuk started to put in a surge. She understood the other three women had more speed in their legs and for her to win, she needed to start her drive for the finish early.

However, the surging of pace from Tuliamuk was not enough to break her competitors. At 9 kilometers, Huddle was once again in the lead as she led the pack up the hill for the final time.

With Huddle at the front, Tuliamuk ended up being the first to crack. Before there was much of a chance to comprehend that, however, Houlihan made a sudden surge into the lead just before the crest of the final hill.

Houlihan showed the same speed she used last year on the track to win Diamond League 1,500-meter races as she pulled away from everyone over the final 600 meters. She even used her afterburner speed in final 50 meters to take the win in 32:46.8.

Huddle held on for second, finishing more than eight seconds back in 32:55.3. Hall finished third in 32:56.5 and Tuliamuk was fourth in 33:03.3.

Rounding out the next spots were the remaining three BTC runners. Cragg finished fifth in 33:17.5. Frerichs used a strong second half of the race to get up for sixth in 33:24.6, ahead of Schweizer in 33:28.2 for seventh.

The decision on who will represent the U.S. in Denmark remains a question mark. Huddle, who will race the London Marathon in April, has already stated she will not join the team for World Cross Country.

The big question is whether Houlihan and her BTC teammates will take part. As much as Houlihan wants to race, the ultimate decision will be made by her coach, Jerry Schumacher. “He has given no green lights, no lights at all,” Houlihan said about whether Schumacher would allow them to race in Denmark.

Should Schumacher give his athletes the green light to run the World Cross Country Championships, that will make for a strong team that could be in the hunt for a team medal.

In the junior 6K race, it was the pack of North Carolina State runners pushing the pace in the early going, led by Savannah Shaw and Heather Holt. Oklahoma State’s Riley Rigdon also made her presence known in the early going.

Also in that lead pack were three high school athletes, sophomores Grace Ping (Cotter MN) and Heidi Nielson (Katy Cinco Ranch TX) and senior Noelle Adriaens (Pinckney MI).

Shaw led the field through the 2.2-kilometer mark in 7:28, but the hills split up the pack. By the nine-minute mark, the lead pack had dwindled down to six with Shaw, Holt and Ringdon, along with Ping and the Boston College runners Nicole Clermont and Kayla Smith.

At two miles, the lead pack had four seconds on the chasers, but that lead grew with every second.

Near the 4-kilometer mark, the Boston College duo moved to the lead, pushing the pace. Ping covered the move, but Shaw and Rigdon initially struggled to stay with the new leaders.

Shaw did manage to battle back, pulling Rigdon with her, but the Oklahoma State runner was unable to remain with the leaders.

Further back in the race, the high schooler Nielson had moved into sixth place, one of those coveted Team USATF qualifying positions.

Clermont and Smith continued to lead through 5K in 17:47. However that marked the beginning of the final push to the finish. Clermont surged up the final hill with her teammate following. Ping tried to cover the move, but the effort proved to be too much and she started to fall back.

Clermont continued to pull away over the final 500 meters, crossing the finish line in 21:14.0. Smith finished behind her teammate in 21:18.2.

Rigdon, who had fallen back over six seconds from the lead group at 5K, fought her way back and nabbed third place, running 21:26.8, just ahead of Ping in 21:26.9.

Rounding out the top six, and the automatic qualifiers for the USATF team that will travel to Denmark were Shaw in 21:28.4 and Nielson in 21:30.1.