Chelsea Orr of the Huskies gets third in open 1500 at Mt. SAC Relays...

WALNUT, California--Washington's Chelsea Orr (left/photo by Paul Merca), the redshirt freshman from Sammamish's Eastlake HS, took a surprising third place in the open women's 1500 meter run, running a personal best of 4:19.21 as day one of the Mt. SAC Relays got underway at Hilmer Lodge Stadium Thursday with the distance carnival, consisting of numerous heats of the open 1500, steeplechase, and 10000.

Orr, who was a member of the Huskies' national championship distance medley relay team during the recent indoor season, finished second in her heat behind eventual winner Ashley Higginson of Saucony, who ran 4:18.50.

In the men's 1500, Washington State's Joe Abbott finished seventh in his heat and 14th overall with a time of 3:47.22.

A pair of Cougar steeplers, Caroline Austin, and Andrew Gonzales, set personal bests in their events.

Austin, a junior from Chehalis, Wash., ran a PR and the fifth-fastest time in WSU women's 3000m steeplechase records with a 10-minute, 28.91 seconds finish in the Open-A University/Open race.

In the men's 3000m steeplechase Open-A University/Open race, Gonzales, a redshirt sophomore from Kennewick, Wash., ran a PR time of 8:55.81 for eighth place.

It was a rude awakening for incoming University of Washington freshman Maddie Meyers, as the senior from Seattle's Northwest School and national high school record holder in the 2000 steeplechase was 16th in the Olympic Development Elite section,as she ran 10:59.28 in her first race over the full 3000 meter steeple distance against a collegiate and open field.

The Mt. SAC Relays continues its three day run Friday and concludes on Saturday.

The results link for the Mt. SAC Relays is available here.

Elsewhere in the greater Los Angeles area, Western Washington's Alex Harrison set a school record in the decathlon, scoring 6772 points, at the California Invitational decathlon, hosted by Azusa Pacific. Harrison surpassed the old Viking school record set by Jeff Neubauer in 1986.

Eastern Washington's Tim Armstrong scored 6273 points.

In the Mt SAC Relays heptathlon, also held at Azusa Pacific, Washington's Shelby Williams finished 13th with a two-day score of 4679, while teammate Sarah Schireman was 17th with a two-day score of 4633.

The results from the Mt. SAC Relays and California Invitational multi-events competition are available here.

NOTE:  The sports information offices of Azusa Pacific, Mt. SAC, Western Washington, Washington State, and the University of Washington contributed to this report.