UW alum Mike Sayenko of Club Northwest PRs at The Marathon Project...

CHANDLER, Arizona--It took him ten years to break his personal best, but University of Washington graduate Mike Sayenko (file photo by Paul Merca) accomplished the feat in finishing 18th in Sunday's running of The Marathon Project just outside of Phoenix.

The 36-year old, who completed his eligibility at Washington in 2006, was at one point, part of a group of up-and-coming young marathoners through the end of the 2000s and the early 2010s, even competing for Team USA at the 2011 IAAF world track & field championships in the marathon in Daegu, South Korea.

After the 2013 season, Sayenko, who ran at Bellevue's Sammamish HS before attending the UW, quit competing at the national level after dropping out of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon to focus on his career as a web designer, before qualifying for the US Olympic marathon trials last December, where he ran 2:17:52 in Sacramento.

He finished 32nd at the US Olympic Trials in Atlanta on February 29th, running 2:16:47 for his fastest marathon since 2012.

With the pandemic this year severely limiting competitive opportunities, Sayenko took advantage of running in this unique elite race conceived by Hoka Northern Arizona Elite founder/coach Ben Rosario, agent Josh Cox & Big River Race Management's Matt Helbig to set a personal best of 2:13:34, beating his previous best of 2:14:27, set in Chicago a decade earlier.

Sayenko, who currently competes for Seattle's Club Northwest, was running 5:01 miles through the first 35 kilometers of the race, before slowing down over the last 7-plus kilometers of the pancake-flat 4.3 mile loop course designed specifically for entrants to run fast.

Gonzaga alum Willie Milam finished 36th, running 2:16:45.

Western Washington alum Courtney Olsen dropped out of the race shortly after the 10k mark.

Syracuse alum Martin Hehir of the Reebok Boston TC won the race in 2:08:59, leading seven Americans under 2:10, eclipsing the most number of Americans under that time, set at the 2012 US Olympic Trials.

The first twelve men across the line ducked under the Olympic and world championships standard of 2:11:30.

Stanford alum Sara Hall continued her hot streak, winning the women's race in 2:20:32, the second fastest time in American history behind Deena Kastor's 14-year old American record of 2:19:36.

Eight women got under the Olympic and world championships standard of 2:29:30.

Complete results of The Marathon Project are available here.

NOTE: The Marathon Project contributed to this report.

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