Junior Haley Herberg started running track when she was in third grade, then got into cross-country in middle school. “Everyone else in my family runs,” says the Southern California native. “That’s how I got into it. Mom and Dad both ran in college.”
Herberg, a transfer from the University of Oklahoma, learned well. She went wire to wire to win the individual title at the Pac-12 Cross-Country Championships in March and was named the Pac-12 women’s cross-country athlete of the year. “It definitely was really humbling and gratifying,” she says of the title. At the conference championshipsshe fended off late-charging Ella Donaghu of Stanford for the title. “I did not dare look back,” Herberg says. “Ella definitely gave me a run for my money.”