Molly Seidel, a Notre Dame junior whose inspiration in running is another famous Fighting Irish alumna—Molly Huddle—tonight found herself surpassing her hero with a title Huddle never earned: NCAA champion.

With 800 meters to go in the 10,000m at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Seidel made a decisive move past the defending champion in the event, Emma Bates of Boise State, and ran to victory in 33:18, which was 7 seconds ahead of runner-up Dominique Scott of Arkansas.

Emily Stites of William & Mary was third in 33:26.

With the win, Seidel surprised her competitors, her coach, and, she admitted, herself.

“This is a pretty big shock,” Seidel said after the race. “If you had told me this morning that I was going to be the 10K champion, I probably would not have believed you.”

The race went out slow, as runners battled brisk winds down the backstretch and the field covered the first 5,000m in 16:49. The race didn’t break open until lap 22, when Bates surged.

“My coach and I decided that was the best way to go,” Bates said. “With four laps to go, I was going to make a move and run 68 for that first quarter of a mile.”

Bates, who ended up finishing in 10th place, didn’t exactly follow her coach’s instructions. She ran too fast, splitting 66.4 for the lap. And the effort cost her—Seidel caught up as they approached two laps to go and went quickly past Bates in a move that was not premeditated.

“I wasn’t really thinking at that point,” Seidel said. “I had caught up to Bates, and she was fading back. Truth be told, I was kind of like, ‘Eff it, I’m going.’”



Seidel thought Scott and others were right on her tail, and she didn’t dare a look at the screen to confirm her position.



“Running scared is the best way to run sometimes,” said her coach, Matt Sparks, who is in his first year coaching the men’s and women’s distance runners at Notre Dame.

He has had Seidel on 70 to 90 miles per week, with long runs of 15 to 16 miles and a steady diet of 5- to 6-mile tempo runs, on whatever surface the South Bend, Indiana, winters allow: roads, indoor track, even the treadmill. “She thrives on tempo and threshold type of work,” he said. “Interval training hasn’t really panned out for her.”

In high school, Seidel was the 2011 Foot Locker champion, but her first two years at Notre Dame were pockmarked by a succession of injury and illnesses, and only in the past year has she been able to return to consistent training. The NCAA final was the third time she had ever raced 10,000m.

Seidel was outkicked in the 10K at her conference meet.

“So you can see why we’d be a little surprised now,” Sparks said.

The highlight of Seidel’s fall season came when Huddle, who holds the American record in the 5,000m, took her and a friend out for dinner.

“I got to pick her brain,” Seidel said. “I was asking her about the 10K at that. She is seriously my biggest hero. When you go to practice every day and see her name up on the board for Notre Dame records, it is incredible to have someone like that to look up to. This is what I’m aiming for when I’m at practice.”

Seidel was not the only improbable runner on the podium. Molly Grabill, an Oregon junior, survived a serious car accident in 2012. She finished fourth tonight, in a PR of 33:26.

The accident was caused when a teen threw a rock off a highway overpass, and it hit Grabill’s windshield.

Grabill had to take a term off of school and suffered post-concussive symptoms for more than six months following the accident. She needed extensive dental work to repair damage, and she worked with Oregon’s training staff to regain her cognitive abilities, because her memory was poor.

Her running comeback, she said, “has been a dream come true.”

Oregon leads the team scoring with 31 points. Arkansas is in second with 26.

Women’s 1500m Semifinals



Defending champion Shelby Houlihan wasn’t about to run in a slowly moving pack in her opening 1500m semifinal. The Arizona State senior charged into the lead from the gun, covering the first 400m lap in 67.5 before easing up somewhat (800m in 2:18, 1200m in 3:27) and taking a 4:16.87 win. Colorado senior Sara Sutherland closed well to finish runner-up in 4:16.94. Iona’s Rosie Clarke initially looked strong, running just behind Houlihan all the way to the bell. But Clarke faded badly over the final 300m to finish eighth in 4:18.46. She did not advance.



The second 1500m heat got off considerably slower than the first, as Mississippi State’s Rhianwedd Price led Oklahoma State’s Natalja Piliusina through a 71.4-second opening lap. From there things heated up, as Price maintained the lead to hit 800m in 2:19 and 1200m in 3:26. Price, who came to Eugene with the season’s best mark of 4:10.95, appeared to struggle a bit on the back straight, her head bobbing noticeably. But she kept her composure to claim the win in 4:16.87. Mississippi State’s Marta Freitas, who finished runner-up to her teammate Price at the East regional, crossed the line second in 4:17.01 with Villanova’s Stephanie Schappert third in 4:17.31. Katrina Coogan of Georgetown and Villanova’s Angel Piccirillo were two notables from the second heat who did not advance to the final.

Steeplechase Semifinals

Michigan State’s Leah O’Connor, the defending champion, moved right to the front in heat one, leading in-state rival Victoria Voronko of Eastern Michigan all the way to the bell. But down the final back straight there was considerable movement, as Voronko faltered and lost three positions. Rider senior Emily Ritter who closed best in this heat, nearly catching O’Connor at the line as they finished 1-2 in 9:55.58 and 9:55.89, respectively. Voronko held on to fifth (9:59.09), behind Laura Rose Donegan of New Hampshire (9:58.95) and Maddie Van Beek of North Dakota State (9:58.97).



The second semi was the deeper of the two, and 2013 runner-up Colleen Quigley took the lead from the gun. Baylor senior Rachel Johnson, third here last year, ran in second early with Boise State’s Marisa Howard, 2014’s surprise runner-up, in third. Meanwhile, season leader Courtney Frerichs of Missouri-Kansas City was content to sit back in seventh or eighth place during the early laps. By 2000m, however, Frerichs had moved up to pass everyone except Quigley. The pair of favorites ran side by side for a couple laps, with Howard, Johnson and North Dakota State’s Erin Teschuk staying close. Over the final 200m, Teschuk pushed toward the line to take the win in 9:53.93. Frerichs, Quigley, Howard and Johnson finished in a bunch, separated by less than half a second. Nearly 100m back in sixth but managing to nab the final time qualifier spot was New Hampshire’s Elinor Purrier (10:10.74).

Complete results and splits from the NCAA.

John Kissane contributed reporting to this article.

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