Former Sprague, OSU standout Kaylee Mitchell runs steeplechase PR at Pre Classic

EUGENE — The transition to the professional world of track and field has been a rapid one for former Sprague High School and Oregon State standout Kaylee Mitchell.

Over the past 10 weeks, Mitchell closed out her college career in All-American fashion, inked her first pro contract, and dove head first into a jam-packed slate of outdoor races.

On Saturday, she notched a significant personal-best time that she hopes will be the first of many this summer.

Mitchell placed eighth with a lifetime best time of 9 minutes, 21 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field. That's significant, as Mitchell has now achieved the 9:23.00 world qualifying standard that is required to gain entry for the Paris Olympics. Now she just needs a top-three finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials back at Hayward next month.

She now owns the 22nd fastest time in the world during the current Olympic qualifying window.

"I didn't really go in with a time in mind, necessarily," Mitchell said. "It was just kind of in the back of my mind that it would be nice to run the world standard to have that out of the way. But I was more so just focused on competing. We've been really into not focusing on time; just focusing on place and competing. The time will follow with that."

Uganda's Peruth Chemutai ran the fastest time in the world this season, set a national record, and set a personal-best with a winning time of 8:55.09.

There is plenty of intrigue surrounding the women's steeplechase field at the moment. During the past several Olympic cycles, two Americans have dominated the event — Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Frerichs captured the silver medal. Coburn, a 10-time U.S. champion, captured the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the gold medal at the 2017 world championships.

But Frerichs and Coburn are both injured and will miss this year's Olympic Trials. That opens the door for Mitchell — as well as several other runners — to potentially have a clearer path to Paris.

But Mitchell doesn't like to look at it that way.

"Even if they were at the trials, I would feel the same way," Mitchell said of Coburn and Frerichs. "Because no one is ever guaranteed anything. I'm never gonna count myself out and I'm never gonna 100% count someone in. I don't want to just beat people because they're injured or they're sick; I want to beat people because I earned it, because I beat them.

"I was pretty bummed for those two. It really sucks to devote your life to this and then to have something happen that takes that away for the time being."

Valerie Constien was the top U.S. finisher at Hayward on Saturday. She took fifth with a personal-best time of 9:14.29. Courtney Wayment took sixth (9:14.48), and Gabrielle Jennings took seventh (9:18.03).

"It almost felt like there were two races in one race," Mitchell said. "I knew that the pacer was going out at 8:50 pace and I am definitely not ready to run 8:50 in the steeple. So I was just more-so focused on the Americans and getting another hard rep in at Hayward Field."

Mitchell capped off her Oregon State career in March with a 10th-place finish in the open 3,000 at the NCAA Indoor Championships to earn the 10th All-American honor of her career. Less than three weeks later, she signed with Bowerman Track Club and re-located to Eugene. Saturday's showing at Hayward marked her fourth race in the past 35 days.

Next, Mitchell will head to Park City, Utah, on Sunday to rejoin the rest of the Bowerman runners in altitude training ahead of the trials. She doesn't have another race on her calendar at this point.

"It was really cool; it's been a really fun meet," Mitchell said of the Pre, which was the first Diamond League event of her career. "I'm lucky to be a part of it. ... It meant a lot to have so many friends and family who are all local come support. It made me feel a little bit more relaxed, more calm."

Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Kaylee Mitchell runs personal-best steeplechase time at Pre Classic