Sehome grad Jake Riley third in invitational 10000 at Mt. SAC Relays...

WALNUT, California--The main portion of the three day Mt. SAC Relays track & field extravaganza go underway Thursday night at Hilmer Lodge Stadium, and numerous Washington athletes were in the mix, as the steeplechase and the 10000 took center stage.

In the invitational 10000, former Sehome HS/Bellingham standout Jake Riley (left/photo courtesy Stanford University) of Stanford took third place, running 28:54.69.

Western Washington's Courtney Olsen won the university/open division of the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. She broke her school record set just two weeks ago by nearly 19 seconds with an automatic qualifying time of 10:42.55. That was the second fastest time in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history.

Then Sarah Porter (Jr., Hockinson) bettered her own WWU standard in the women's 10,000, finishing second in the Olympic Development division with an automatic qualifying time of 34:30.21. That was over 18 seconds better than her record set last spring and nearly a full minute faster than the automatic standard.

Eastern Washington's Sarah Frey was 28th in that section in a time of 36:41.01.

In the university/open division of the women's 10,000, Western's Lauren Breihof (Jr., Vancouver/Mountain View) was a provisional qualifier as she placed sixth in 36:02.54.

A pair of Washington State runners were in that race as well, as Chelsea VanDeBrake was eighth in 36:10.24, and Ashlee Wall was 28th in 37:33.17.

The Vikings' Jordan Welling (Jr., Burlington/Burlington-Edison) placed ninth in the Olympic Development division of the men's 10,000, breaking his own school record set a year ago with a provisional time of 29:45.92, and just behind Eastern Washington's Paul Limpf, who ran 29:44.08.

In the same race, Portland's Tommy Betterbed, formerly out of Gig Harbor HS, was 17th in 29:54.90, and Washington State's Mark Moeller was 25th in 30:18.06.

And in the men's 10,000 university/open division, Western's Bennett Grimes (Jr., Pocatello, ID/Century) and Blake Medhaug (Sr., Bothell) capped things off with a pair of provisional qualifying efforts. Grimes placed sixth in 30:05.10 and Medhaug finished 11th in 30:14.91.

The Mt. SAC Relays continues Friday and Saturday, with media partner Flotrack.org providing live streaming coverage.

NOTE: The Mt. SAC Relays, Western Washington, Eastern Washington, & Washington State Universities contributed to this report.

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