Rainsberger and Maggard earn silver medals on first day of NACAC championships...

FREEPORT, Grand Bahama--Washington alum Katie Rainsberger (Paul Merca photo) finished second in the women's 3000 steeplechase Friday night as the three-day NACAC Track & Field Championships at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex opened, featuring national teams from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

Rainsberger ran 9:40.74 as US teammate Gabrielle Jennings took the win in 9:34.36.

In the men's 10000, Lake Washington HS grad Dillon Maggard finished second in 29:33.57 to Stanford alum and Nike Bowerman TC's Sean McGorty, who won in a time of 29:23.77.

Washington alum Eleanor Fulton was third in the women's 5000, running 15:50.31. Natosha Rogers of the USA won in 15:11.68.

In the only qualifying heat involving an athlete with Washington ties, WSU alum CJ Allen had the fastest time of the day in the men's 400 hurdles, as he won his heat in 48.76.

Saturday's competition begins with the men's 20K race walk with Vancouver native Daniel Nehnevaj at 6:30 am local time (3:30 am in Seattle).

Former Husky and 2016 Olympian Diamara Planell Cruz of Puerto Rico competes in the women's pole vault at 3:00 pm (noon in Seattle) local time, and recent Husky Kieran Lumb runs the men's 5000 for Canada at 6:45 pm local time (3:45 pm in Seattle).

The NACAC championships have extra meaning, as the winner of each individual event is considered to hold the qualifying standard for next year's World Athletics outdoor championships in Budapest. The one year countdown to the world championships began Friday.

The meet is being streamed on YouTube, with the link available here.

Day 1 results of the NACAC Track & Field Championships are available here.

FORMER WSU ASSISTANT COACH DOUG FRALEY NAMED HEAD COACH AT MONTANA...

Doug Fraley, (photo courtesy WSU Sports Information). who was the jumps coach at Washington State University the past three seasons, was named as the head coach at the University of Montana Friday.

At WSU, he and wife Erica, a 2008 US Olympian in the pole vault who was a volunteer coach, helped develop ten NCAA Championships qualifiers and five first-team All-Americans. Competing against the always-tough Pac-12 Conference, he had five athletes reach the podium, including 2022 pole vault champion Jacob Englar.

The summer has been a tumultuous time for the WSU program, which saw in addition to the Fraleys, associate head coach Yogi Teevens depart the program.  

The Cougars currently have not filled the positions vacated by Fraley and Teevens.

Both of Teevens' children, Cody and Peyton, who were multi-event specialists for the Cougars last season, entered the transfer portal, with Cody going to Eastern Washington and Peyton to Utah State.

The Cougars also lost NCAA scorer Valentina Barrios Bornacelli, as the freshman eighth place finisher in the javelin transferred to the University of Missouri. The native of Colombia  recently placed second in the javelin at the World Athletics U20 championships in her home country.

NOTE: NACAC and the sports information office of the University of Montana contributed to this report.

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