Molly Huddle Sweeps 5K And 10K, Shelby Houlihan and Kim Conley Make 5K Team

Molly Huddle Sweeps 5K And 10K, Shelby Houlihan and Kim Conley Make 5K Team

​UPDATE​: Molly Huddle and Emily Infeld are scratching the 5K to focus on the 10K in Rio, so fifth-place finisher Abbey D'Agostino is headed to the Olympics

Jul 10, 2016 by Dennis Young
Molly Huddle Sweeps 5K And 10K, Shelby Houlihan and Kim Conley Make 5K Team
​UPDATE​: Molly Huddle and Emily Infeld are scratching the 5K to focus on the 10K in Rio, so fifth-place finisher Abbey D'Agostino is headed to the Olympics, according to a LetsRun report. Our original recap appears below.

Molly Huddle can't be beat in this country. She ground out a 4:39 final 1600 meters to sweep the 10000 and 5000 titles at these Trials. Huddle will be joined on the 5K team in Rio by runner-up Shelby Houlihan and third-placer Kim Conley. Huddle and Conley were second and third in the 5K at the 2012 Olympic Trials.


Footage courtesy of NBCOlympics (http://liveextra.nbcsports.com) and USOC

Huddle's public comments have indicated that she's leaning towards scratching the 5K at the Olympics, but she's undecided. If Huddle scratches, fourth-place finisher Emily Infeld will be on the team. If Infeld scratches--she's also on the 10K team--then fifth-placer Abbey D'Agostino is next in line to go. D'Agostino has the standard and was fifth at the last Trials after her sophomore year at Dartmouth.



Huddle led nearly every step of the race. After a jogged first kilometer, Huddle began clipping off 71s and 72s from the outside of lane 2 with Infeld on the rail. 

With 800 meters to go, the pack behind Huddle and Infeld was Houlihan, Marielle Hall, Katie Mackey, Conley, and D'Agostino. Hall and D'Agostino began fading on the penultimate lap and Huddle slammed on the gas at the bell lap. She opened up a yawning gap almost immediately, Houlihan dropped everyone else after that--and briefly looked like she was going to walk down Huddle--and Conley and Infeld were fighting it out for the last Olympic spot.

Conley comfortably closed out Infeld over the last 250 meters. Conley started her Trials ignominiously, with a flat tire in the 10K that eventually forced her to sit down and put her shoe back on.


Conley is the second NorCal Distance athlete to make the Olympics, after Kate Grace won the 800. Houlihan is the seventh Bowerman Track Club woman to qualify, after Infeld, steeplechasers Colleen Quigley and Courtney Frerichs, marathoners Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg, and Kenyan 10K runner Betsy Saina.