Herrera Qualifies for Finals in 1,500

AUSTIN, Texas – It was a blistering hot day here at the first day of the 2019 NCAA National Champions, but that wasn't enough to hold back Colorado's Eduardo Herrera from qualifying for the finals in the men's 1,500-meter run.

The sophomore held onto a strong pack of runners in the second heat knowing the time to beat was just 3:47.21 after a slow first heat. After the first 800 the pack went through in 2:03 with Herrera holding tight in seventh position through the final 300 to the bell lap. On the curve the pack went and so did Herrera as he battled out but was unable to secure a top-five automatic qualifying position, but none of that mattered because he was through with the seventh-best time of the prelims of 3:44.78.

After an astonishing two-second personal best two weeks ago in the NCAA West Preliminaries, Herrera is making history for CU. The sophomore came in to the regionals as one of the last qualifiers, ranked in the 60s in the west but in on scratches. He made it through to the finals there and ran people down in the finals in Sacramento to put himself to his first NCAA Championships.

Now Herrera joins a select few, as just three other Buffaloes have qualified for the finals in the past 30 years. Two years ago the school record holder Ben Saarel became the first NCAA First Team All-American for CU in the event since international student-athletes were added to the All-American list long ago. Before Saarel only a pair of CU men ran in the finals, Stephen Pifer in 2007 and Jorge Torres in 2003. Add Eduardo Herrera to the list as the youngster who is just the third sophomore in the final takes the line Saturday for a chance at an All-American honor.

Despite running at 9 p.m. in Texas, the heat and humidity stayed true with an 81 degree temperature for the start of the men's 10,000. John Dressel and Ryan Forsyth took to the track with a group of 24 individuals that went out at 29-minute pace through the first two miles of the race. Both Buffs stayed in the top-10 of the race, going through the first 1600 in 4:40 with Forsyth in sixth and Dressel in 10^th. Their positions didn't change another mile later as they finished the halfway mark at 14:43, slowing down a bit in the third mile.

Another mile went by and the men stayed true to their form, then at 7200 meters into the race Forsyth took to the front five on a strong move. With seven laps to go Forsyth moved to fourth and Dressel was in eighth, then the kick began at the 8K mark. The pack dropped to a dozen in less than 50 meters as Forsyth fell to 10^th and Dressel hung onto 12^th. A lap later it was Dressel's turn to push to the front, moving up to third with Forsyth falling to 12^th with 1600 left.

With four laps remaining the pace continued to increase as BYU traded leaders and Forsyth began to fall off the pack by five meters. With 800 left Dressel was 10^th out of the pack of 10 and another break happened with eight runners separating down to seven at the bell. BYU's Clayton Young took the title with a sprint in the last 200 against an Alabama runner, dropping the final 5,000 in around 14:30 to take the win.

Dressel crossed 10^th in a time of 29:32.38, just a second and a half from an All-American finish. Forsyth finished right behind him in 12^th at 29:47.90.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the meet for the CU women. Val Constien kicks things off in the 3000-meter steeplechase prelims at 6:32 p.m. (MT), followed by Gabby Scott in the 400 hurdle prelims at 8 p.m. The women's 10,000 duo of Kaitlyn Benner and Makena Morley begins at 8:38 p.m., then Scott will join forces with Dani Johnson, Eriana Henderson and Valerie Welch to conclude the day with the 4x400-meter relay prelims at 9:18 p.m.

All four days of coverage will be on ESPN with running events on ESPN 2 Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Friday's coverage will be ESPN, while all field events are available to stream on ESPN 3. For a complete schedule of coverage, click here.

	2019 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS
WEDNESDAY	ESPN 2			RESULT	PLACE
5:46 PM	Men's 1,500 Prelims	Eduardo Herrera	Heat 2	3:44.78	7th (q)
8:08 PM	Men's 10,000 Finals	John Dressel	Finals	29:32.38	10th
	Men's 10,000 Finals	Ryan Forsyth	Finals	29:47.90	12th

THURSDAY	ESPN 2			RESULT	PLACE
6:36 PM	Women's Steeplechase Prelims	Val Constien	Heat 2
8:00 PM	Women's 400 Hurdle Prelims	Gabby Scott	Heat 3
8:38 PM	Women's 10,000 Finals	Makena Morley	Finals
	Women's 10,000 Finals	Kaitlyn Benner	Finals
9:18 PM	Women's 4x400 Prelim	Welch, Henderson, Johnson, Scott	Heat 1

FRIDAY	ESPN			RESULT	PLACE
6:41 PM	Men's 1,500 Finals	Eduardo Herrera	Finals
8:25 PM	Men's 5,000 Finals	John Dressel	Finals

SATURDAY	ESPN 2			RESULT	PLACE
4:54 PM	Women's Steeplechase Finals	Val Constien	Finals
5:57 PM	Women's 400 Hurdles Finals	Gabby Scott	Finals
6:25 PM	Women's 5,000 Finals	Dani Jones	Finals
	Women's 5,000 Finals	Makena Morley	Finals
6:51 PM	Women's 4x400 Finals	Welch, Henderson, Johnson, Scott	Finals

	HEPTATHLON RESULTS
		Maja Wichhart-Donzo		Michaela Wenning
FRIDAY	ESPN 3	RESULTS (SCORE)	PLACE	RESULTS (SCORE)	PLACE
1:30 PM	100m Hurdles
2:30 PM	High Jump
4:30 PM	Shot Put
8:13 PM	200m Dash

SATURDAY	ESPN 3	RESULTS (SCORE)	PLACE	RESULTS (SCORE)	PLACE
12:30 PM	Long Jump
1:45 PM	Javelin Throw
6:13 PM	800m Run

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kaitlyn Benner

John Dressel

Ryan Forsyth

Eriana Henderson

Eduardo Herrera

Dani Johnson

Dani Jones

Makena Morley

Ben Saarel

Gabby Scott

Valerie Welch

Michaela Wenning

Maja Wichhart-Donzo