EUGENE, Ore. — The tears flowed for Brooks Beast and former UW runner Katie Mackey after her sixth-place finish in the women’s 5,000-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on Sunday afternoon.
“I just thought it was going to be me. I just was feeling good and so confident,” Mackey said. “I’m just heartbroken. There’s only three girls that can walk away achieving the goal that everybody else out there has seen themselves achieving a thousand times. You have to believe it’s gonna be you, with all of your being.
“And when it doesn’t happen, the elation from celebrating your goal is like equal to the devastation of it slipping through your fingers.