Grace Fetherstonhaugh is not letting any dust gather in her first summer away from college.
The New West native ran a great race for Canada in San Jose, Costa Rica on Sunday,
finishing second in the women’s 3000-metre steeplechase at the Under-20 Pan Am junior athletics championships.
Her time of 10:32.13 trailed only American Lydia Olivere of Villanova University. Fetherstonhaugh led until the 800m mark, when Olivere pulled ahead to post a time of 10:12.16.
Fetherstonhaugh, who finished her freshman year at Oregon State earlier this summer, posted a time nearly 16 seconds quicker than third-place finisher Megan Worrel, also of the U.S.
A year ago the then-18-year-old represented Canada at the IAAF world junior championships in Finland, finishing 11th in the same event.
She is currently ranked 130th in the world for the 3000m steeplechase, having established a new personal record last year in Oregon with a time of 10:01.95.
This past April at the High Performance meet in Corvallis, the Oregon State freshman set the pace with a time of 10:31.17, the fourth-best time in school history. A few weeks later she put up a season-best time of 10:03.13 at the NCAA Div. 1 west regionals.
It has been a productive first year as a member of the Oregon State Beavers team. Fetherstonhaugh set new PBs in the 1500m (4:30.00 in Portland, Ore.) and the 5000m (17:00.14 in Tucson, Ariz.) in May.
