Mel Lawrence and Katie Nageotte both get the Olympic standard in Oslo and Prague...

It may have only been a 13th place finish for University of Washington alum Mel Lawrence (left/photo by Paul Merca) in the 3000 meter steeplechase at the Bislett Games Thursday night in Oslo, Norway, but the Husky Hall of Fame member left the fifth stop in the IAAF’s Diamond League series with an all important Olympic qualifying standard.

Lawrence ran a personal best 9:29.81, just .19 seconds under the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifying standard.

In doing so against an extremely deep field, she beat her old personal best of 9:32.68 set in Liege, Belgium last year.

As of this writing, she and Emma Coburn, who finished fourth in Oslo in 9:08.42, are the only Americans holding the Olympic qualifying standard.

The IAAF Diamond League tour moves on to Rabat, Morocco for Sunday’s Le Rendez Vous de L’Athlétisme Mondial meeting.

Also obtaining the Olympic standard Thursday was Pullman resident Katie Nageotte, who cleared 15-9.25 (4.81m) to win and set a new meet record at the Prague International Pole Vault Meeting in Wenceslas Square.

Nageotte's mark was an outdoor personal best, and tied her all time best set indoors in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the 2018 USA indoor championships.

Courtesy of Katie’s Instagram page, here’s video of her jump in Prague.

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What a day! 4.81 (15'9) for an outdoor PB and Meeting Record in Prague! Such a fun meet and good tune-up for Rabat Diamond League on Sunday! Not a bad way to spend my birthday 🤗 #nike #polevault #prague

A post shared by Katie Nageotte (@ktnago13) on Jun 13, 2019 at 9:52am PDT

Nageotte moves on to Rabat for the Diamond League meet on Sunday.